BTA Episode 15: The Titans Metropolis
by J-Dub -Silver Enigma
Summary: What happens when our heroes revisit the public world and bring them the entertaining action that nearly endangered their lives in the past... on ANOTHER island paradise? The Bean Titans must be cautious and strong at all times, but when it comes to the people of the world, extreme care comes first. For the Titans, only some will be rewarded, while others will lose out.
1. The Return to Entertainment

**AN: Hey everyone! It's been a while... mainly because I've been playing a game online. :P**

**Well, I'm back and ready to start back up again. I'm bring you all Part 15 of the Bean Titans Adventures (BTA)!**

**This episode takes place during the time that the New 12 are at Team Z's island, and focuses on the rest of the Titans League—including Titans X. If you'll remember (or look back to it), Durango was left in charge of his plans with the New 12, while the rest of Team Z went to take a visit to the Home Base of the Bean Titans.**

**To find out what happened, we must enter this story... right now! Read forth!**

(Copyright issues (wherever they may be): I do not own any of the referenced material... only the names of the Beanie Babies that I own back at home.)

* * *

**~BTA Part 15: The Titans Metropolis~**

Chapter 1 — The Return to Entertainment

_(Background music (BGM): "The Warpath Home" — Final Fantasy XIII.)_

Since the New 12 have departed for Team Z's Island in the Pacific Ocean, the rest of the Bean Titans have been working on enforcing their strengths, with increased awareness of the threats around them now. The Legendary 12 gave the announcement that they had a "confirmed feeling" that Bahamut Fury was not dead and that he may come back for revenge. Knowing that they already had Wrinkle and his Syndicate to deal with already, the Titans began to develop themselves now more than ever, as any enemy could strike at any time.

With this in mind, Dotty had an idea stuck in her head. Assuming that the Danger Room at the Moon Base was still in development, she thought about creating one that was more efficient than the normal ones they have in all thirteen Titans Towers around the world. The Legendary 12 thought it was a great idea, but it was not great enough... that was, until they each gave some "incentives" about it. That was when their secret project began...

_Current time: Monday morning, 10:00 AM._

Mystic entered the super-computer room to find Dotty working hard as always, creating and improving technologies for the Titans League.

"Wow Dotty..." Mystic began, "do your eyes ever get tired of looking at screens for eight hours a day?"

"Only sometimes." the dalmatian replied. "Spunky sometimes helps, too."

"Still, it feels like you're the only one working at this, almost like you're the smartest Bean Titan."

Dotty looked off. "Well, I'm not..."

"You're NOT?" the unicorn questioned in disbelief. "How can you say that after all you've done for us in over 30 years?"

"Genetic inheritance." she answered.

"Wha...?"

"Bonnie—she's undoubtedly the smartest Bean Titan. It's true because I'm her mother, and I see it in her. She got her mind from me, and then some..."

"Really?" Mystic questioned. "What about you then?"

"I'll keep going until the end, when it comes... knowing that she'll be able to carry on for me. That's my dream."

Suddenly, beeping was heard in the room, and a green light pulsed on the bottom right corner of the super-computer's monitor.

"What's that?" Mystic asked.

"Someone's coming inside the Tower from the teleporter. Most likely, it'll be one of the Bean Titans coming to rest from training at another base."

Dotty was proven wrong, as she and Mystic saw the members of Team Z, minus Durango, Derby and Danielle.

"What goes down, mom?" Dep asked, as introduction on behalf of the Team—consisting of himself, Thunderbolt, Mina, Tina and Fortress.

"Nothing much. The usual." Dotty replied, getting up to hug her eldest son.

"What brings you all here?" Mystic asked, while in an embrace with Fortress, her much younger sister of 22 years.

"Durango's going crazy with his plans for the New 12. So we all just decided to crash here until Saturday." Thunderbolt said.

"Well, what is he doing?" Dotty asked.

"Him? Nothing much. The New 12... a lot." Mina answered.

"And if you wanna see what's going on, it'll be on TV... well, says Durango." Tina added.

"I'll watch it in the memory room, after the week is over. We're a little busy now, but you're still welcome to stay." Mystic told them.

"Yesterday was crazy enough for us, so we're staying here!" Fortress exclaimed.

"Make yourselves comfortable then." Dotty said, turning back to her computer business.

"You guys want to see Sweet?" Mystic asked the five Team Z members.

"Why not?" answered Thunderbolt.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

**_*knock, knock, knock...*_**

"Come in!" Sweet spoke up, as he was organizing a schedule on his wall.

The Team Z members entered after Mystic opened the door for them.

"Hey boss!" Dep greeted.

The leader turned and gave a chuckle, smiling afterwards as he saw them. "I'm not a boss—just the old head honcho, ha ha! Still, how's it going, you guys?" he said, welcoming them.

"We're doing good. Things still look steady over here." Thunderbolt responded on behalf of his team.

"Well we're always busy. Most of the Bean Titans were out training up these past two days, but I asked that they would take it easy for just this week."

"Why's that?" Tina inquired.

"Oh, that's right..." Sweet uttered, "I forgot to let you guys know about something. Come with me."

The orangutan led the five of them back to the Facility, into the Mission Room. He had their attention to the holographic map of the world, where it displayed important points—the thirteen Titans Towers, the location of Wrinkle's base, etc..

"Why the map?" Fortress asked out of curiosity.

"Do any of you recall of the Titans Wrestling Federation?" Sweet pitched in, pacing back and forth a little.

They all remembered the name from a few years ago.

"Well, the Legendary 12 and I thought this over two days ago. Wrinkle has endangered us almost everytime we had an entertainment night. However, he has not attacked us since the Heartless invasion, a while back. So, we figured out a way that we can have leisure time and development time... at the SAME time. And... _(turns to the map, and points somewhere)_ **it's here."**

The five Team Z members gazed over to see where Sweet was pointing.

"The New York City Base?" Mina murmured.

"It does look a bit bigger than usual..." Dep said.

"That's because it is." Sweet clarified, using his thumb and index finger to zoom in on the location, where the Tower there was no longer just one island-bound Tower.

"WHOA! What is **that?**" exclaimed the Team Z members.

"This is the newest island of Manhattan. The Titans Metropolis." Sweet announced to them.

The Metropolis emulated **Dragonball Z's West City**, as there were about thirty other buildings in the shapes of those seen in the series, tropical trees and more features that made a futuristic setting. Four buildings (that looked a bit like water towers) were placed on the far sides of the round island, in the cardinal directions (north, south, east and west). They were the high-rise observatories of the Metropolis where people could view any point of the island. If one would think that these four buildings are the highest points of the Metropolis, they would be wrong. A few paces north from the center of the Metropolis stands a complex that looks very similar to **Pokémon Colosseum's Realgam Tower**. On ground level, there were several chambers that contained and provided food, fun and felicity. One of the chambers, the largest one towards the back, contained six large elevators, which all led up to different areas in the highest point of the Metropolis—the Aeroseum, a huge stadium that is suspended high in the air, hovering on a height between that of the top of Lady Liberty's torch and the tip of the Empire State Building. It was made not only for the Titans League, but for the people as well, as they could live in the buildings and hotels within the island. It was truly a phenomenal establishment.

"Holy hell... how in the world did **THIS **get here?" Dep exclaimed.

"It was really just a combination of our ideas." Sweet started to say. "If you think about it, there is some aspect of the Metropolis that every member of the Legendary 12 contributed to. To name a few: Mystic used her gravity powers to keep the Aeroseum fixed in that position, and it still follows Earth's rotation. With something that huge and heavy, it took some serious strength to put it in there... and that was where Hippity came into the picture on planting the island in the way that most of the other islands on this planet are. All this and even more..."

"We GOTTA see this place for real..." Mina and Tina simultaneously spoke.

"Oh, you will. We're all heading there today at 3:00—to rekindle our entertainment venture and rename it: Titans Unlimited Entertainment (TUE). Trust me, this will be quite epic."

"Whoa..." Thunderbolt murmured.

"Is it just to show the people what it's about?" Dep asked.

"That's a good way to say it." Sweet replied.

"What do you mean?" asked Fortress.

"Well, it actually turned out that the people wanted more from the last time we had a wrestling entertainment night. I got a chance to look at the promotional site today, and we got tons of hits—millions of them! Even the WWE answered very positively, remembering the night we shared with them."

"Oh wow..." mouthed Tina, silently.

"We **are **showing them what the Titans Metropolis has to offer, but the real surprise is what will happen later tonight while we are there. It's secret, and I intend on keeping it that way until the time comes tonight."

"This sounds promising." Thunderbolt stated.

"Yes. Now, until then, you five can make yourselves at home. I'm still in the works of scheduling events for tonight."

The Team Z members understood how busy the leader of the Bean Titans was, so they left him to do his business while they went off to get reacquainted with the other Bean Titans.

_(Song fades to nothing.)_

* * *

_Later on at 1:00 PM..._

**_*knock, knock*_**

"Who's there?" Sweet asked, putting the finishing touches on the schedule for the night to come.

"It's _**moi**_... Gigi." said the young black poodle (age 19). Her appearance was similar to Street Fighter's Cammy, only with black hair.

Sweet recognized her French accent and went for the door. She has not requested a thing from Sweet until now.

"Yes, do you need anything?" Sweet asked her.

"I have **_ze _**feeling that a tournament is coming up soon."

"Indeed. What about it?"

"I want a spot." Gigi spoke with confidence.

This surprised Sweet, because even he knew that Gigi was the one Bean Titan that never got past the first round in every tournament that has ever existed in Titans history.

"Gigi..."

"**_Oui?_**" she replied.

"I don't know if you know this, but most of the other Bean Titans discard you whenever you participate in such an event because the same thing happens. However... I, for one, refuse to think that you are weak because a "Titan" must be strong in some fashion. I know you've been training to eliminate that doubt. And because of this, I present you with a challenge. I want you to get past the first round of the tournament tonight, to prove to everyone that you truly have gotten stronger."

Gigi's eyes expanded. "Are you saying **_zat..._**?"

"You're set for Match 1 in the tournament, with Rocket as your opponent. Make sure you're prepared."

"Oh, **_zhank_** you, Monsieur Sweet!" Gigi cheered happily, giving him a quick hug.

"Okay, okay. Please, no "Monsieur"... just Sweet." he said.

"Oh, sorry..."

"It's ok. Just run along now..."

"Yes, sir." she replied upon her exit.

Sweet sighed. _"I hope she can pull it off."_

**/-/**

A night filled with wonders and never before seen sights, next.


	2. Opening Night!, Part 1

**AN: ****I have not forgotten my original term of "humanimal". That's what the Titans League are—an extensive group of different animals with human characteristics such as speech, stance, and clothing. Furries, basically. I use the term again, here.**

**References introduced from: Teen Titans, Justice League Unlimited, Final Fantasy VII (Crisis Core), Marvel/X-Men, Pokémon, Kids Next Door, Dragonball Z, and Capcom.  
In this chapter: Naruto and WWE.**

Chapter 2 — Opening Night!, Part I

It was nearing 3:00 PM now, and the Bean Titans were preparing to leave for the Titans Metropolis. Dotty had a timed Teleport set up so that when it was 2:59, every Titan in the Home Base would be warped to the Metropolis in an instant.

"Mystic," called Sweet, "are all the Bean Titans present and accounted for?"

Mystic mentally scouted around the Titans Tower. "Yes." she answered.

"And what's the status on the people waiting?" Sweet asked Dotty, curious about the patience of the thousands of fans waiting near the new island.

"They're fine—just admiring the sights from afar." Dotty replied.

"Good."

The green light pulsed on the super-computer screen again.

"What is it this time?" asked Mac.

"Someone's coming through the teleporter again." Dotty said.

"Wow, two times in one day? How does that happen?" Canyon uttered.

"It did... remember? The Bean Titans went out training at the other bases." Floppity pointed out.

"Oh..." Canyon replied flatly.

The Legendary 12 turned their attention to the teleporter in the back of the super-computer room, and found Lucky and Frisbee of Titans X, coming from the Moon Base in person.

"Lucky? Frisbee? What are you two doing here?" Sweet asked with a welcoming smile.

"Oh, nothing much really..." Frisbee began.

"We just thought we'd tag along." Lucky said.

"Really? I reckoned you guys would have just stayed at the Moon Base and watch it via satellite." Hippity figured.

"I feel that, maybe just this one time, we'd represent our division of the Titans League in the flesh, instead of being stared at from a big screen. Besides, I've never been to the east coast, heh heh." Lucky explained.

Sweet kept his smile. "Well, what kind of man would I be to deny your request? Come along then. You're just in time for the teleport too."

"Great!" Frisbee exclaimed.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Within the next ten seconds, every Titan within the perimeter of the Home Base was instantly warped out, and in another instant, appeared on the southern shoreline of the Titans Metropolis near New York City. The upper New York Harbor was filled with ferry boats and a few news helicopters and jets, holding the citizens that were fans of the works of the Titans League. These "Titaniacs" were in awe as soon as they saw the heroes make the scene on the southern edge of the Metropolis, even those watching from their homes, as it was on the news too. Some of them could see more clearly because Dotty had the Watcher program working in multiple places at a time, almost like a paparazzi, except for the fact that the cameras would aim themselves at the people as well as the heroes.

The people saw Sweet approach a long red velvet rope and turn his attention to the Titans after looking around at the Metropolis from where he stood. From the looks of things, many of the people knew that the red rope signified that the island was about to be declared open.

Sweet then raised his hand, and at that action, the rest of the Bean Titans dispersed in multiple directions, whether they led to different places on the Metropolis, or to the people awaiting around the area. One of the Watcher cameras zoomed in to Sweet and extended a microphone to him.

"On behalf of the Titans League, and to you, the people, I hereby dub that the Titans Metropolis..." Sweet paused, clenching his raised hand into a fist and extended his adamantium claws before swinging them to cut the rope, "...**IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS!**" he finished, retracting his claws.

The people cheered, as the boats and aircrafts would make their designated loading zones, as directed by the rest of the Legendary 12. Sweet, meanwhile, made his way to the complex to make more necessary preparations until 4:15, which was when the fun would really begin.

_(Background music: "Realgam Tower" — Pokémon Colosseum.)_

The Titans welcomed the people with open arms and words, telling them that the Metropolis was a place where if you wanted something, you got it. With that in mind, the hundreds to thousands of people explored the island. For some news reporters, however, it was hardly believable.

One reporter, named Michelle Graham, caught Aurora's attention.

"Excuse me, do you have a few moments?" she asked him, with her camera team behind her.

"Sure." Aurora replied.

"First off, I should probably know this by now, hehe... but what's your name?"

"Aurora Rayne. I'm in the Legendary 12."

"Right, right. And you're the one with the... ice powers, right?"

"You got it." the polar bear said, nodding his head once.

"Okay. Well, I hope you don't mind me asking a couple of questions..."

"No, go right on ahead."

"How do you feel about this interaction right now—this coexistence between us humans and you humanimals...?"

"When I was really young, I thought it was kinda weird at first because we obviously aren't the same. But I know that both of these "races" are curious about each other... you know, in terms of just living and breathing in the same air." Aurora began to answer.

"Can you kind of give us an example?" Michelle asked.

"Yeah. My wife, Mystic—"

"Mystic... she's the unicorn, am I right?"

"Good work there." Aurora boasted, smiling. "Well, before she first joined the Bean Titans, I dropped her off because I needed to get something else from where I lived before. And soon enough, people began to crowd her, taking pictures and whatnot. It was like they were thinking, "Ooh, look at that! She's a unicorn!" And, of course, you don't see animals like her in real life."

"I see!" Michelle understood, giving out a short chuckle. "And, um, how are you heroes curious of us?"

"I know I'm not only one in the Titans who thinks this, but I think of all the work we have to do. Saving the world, protecting who needs to be protected..."

"Uh-huh..." Michelle uttered.

"I just think of all the times where we could have been living easy, moving around town and talking with the people. We hardly get the opportunity because you have guys like Wrinkle and other outside threats, like the one last week. The least we could do is give you guys the full course on life as a Titan, minus the responsibility of having to save the world."

"Oh, I see. So this island is like a giant replica of your Titans Tower?"

"For the most part, yes. Almost every component of the Home Base off of the coast of Galveston is put into this Metropolis island. And as you can see, many of the Titans here are giving tours of the entire place for an hour!"

"Why an hour?" Michelle asked.

"That's the part that's secret. You just gotta see for yourself..." Aurora boasted, smiling.

"Well okay then, Aurora. It was nice speaking with you—and the team and I are staying for the day."

"That's great; the more, the merrier!"

* * *

One hour later, around 4:10 PM, Sweet was heard on the island-wide PA System. He was also seen from the few big screen monitors on the exteriors of a few buildings.

"Hello everybody!" he opened as a greeting. "I'm sure you're all having an extraordinary time getting around the Metropolis, as well as getting to meet the Titans in person once again! It is 4:12 right now, and I say that it is time for things to get even more extraordinary. I am here inside the elevator chamber of the white complex you might have crossed by—or even entered—near the center of the Metropolis. For those of you inside already, the elevator chamber is the part that the Titans didn't tour you through yet. We plan on getting to that, right now! So if you Titaniacs are quote-unquote "entertainment hungry", I suggest you follow the Titans to the complex. I'll be waiting in the Aeroseum, which is the huge stadium high above that every one of you saw before setting foot on this island. Sweet Summers, over and out."

_(BGM: "Mute City" — as heard from Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The ambient opening part of the song repeats over and over again until the first of the fans arrive inside the Aeroseum.)_

Without second thoughts, the people frantically made their way to the Megaplex, which was the name of the white facility that Sweet spoke of. In no more than ten minutes, the Megaplex was packed with people; every last person who came to the island wanted to see what Sweet had in store for them.

Sweet was on the PA System again.

"This is Sweet again." he began. "Would all of the Titans except the female members of the Legendary 12 come to me via Mac's teleportation?"

At his request, the heroes gathered themselves around Mac, who would focus his energy on warping them all to the Aeroseum. The warp succeeded.

"All right then. Take it away ladies—we're ready to do this thing now." Sweet said, signing off.

"Okay." Mystic started off. "I'll start off by introducing ourselves. I'm Mystic... _(as she walks by the others) _this is Fancy, Floppity, Dotty, Kuku and Fleece. Say, Fancy... how fun were these elevators when you tested them out?"

"Oh, it was electric!" the white cat responded, as she made a few sparks ride down her long and voluminous battery blue hair. "You can see most of the sights of the Metropolis while you're going up so fast. And just before you get to the bottom of the Aeroseum, you can see Lady Liberty, Ellis Island and even more of NYC."

"What's the surprise?" asked a man in the crowd, as others agreed with his question.

"Sweet implied half of it already." Kuku responded. "Every one of you are going to witness the "entertainment" up there, in the Aeroseum. We're just trying to get you all there."

"Okay. I rest my case." said the man.

Dotty stepped towards the elevators behind the Legendary 12 females. "The elevators are lettered off because they lead to different places in the Aeroseum high above. It doesn't matter where you want to sit, because all of you will be able to see the action right at your seats with personal-sized perfect quality monitors. If you just want to see the action from afar, feel free to. Nevertheless, here's the layout: Elevators A and F lead to the uppermost sections of the stadium, B and E go to the mid-sections, and C and D transport to the lower sections. Each elevator holds up to 30 people, so 180 of you can fill the Aeroseum at one time." she explained.

"In other words... stuff these elevators like no tomorrow! This is the moment you've all been waiting for." Floppity said.

"And if nothing else is good to mention, let's go." Fleece finished, as the crowd began to close in on the six elevators.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

After ten minutes, about half of the thousands of people were inside the Aeroseum, and the excitement escalated to new level. Many were amazed at the size of the enormous stadium, and many were equally as amazed by the features in it. Some of the floors were automated, much like an escalator, only flat on the ground. In the multitude of stands, as Dotty mentioned before, there were personal monitors on each seat. Also, the "have it your way" feature of the kitchen in Titans Tower was used here; if someone asked for a food or snack selection, they would get it right on the spot.

The arena in the center of the Aeroseum looked and operated like the Danger Room at the Home Base. However, it does have its differences. First, the arena (Danger Chamber) is more than ten times bigger. Second, along with the exponentially increased size of the Chamber, the efficiency was also exponentially increased, making it the best Danger Room to date. Next, there were about fifteen Watcher cameras hovering all around the stadium, zeroing in on who or what was relevant at the time. And finally, the audience was safe from the uncut action (superpowers) inside the arena, due to an impenetrable barrier placed by the combined efforts of Hippity, Aurora, Mystic and Dotty. Any blast, beam, projectile, even the Titans themselves cannot pass through the barrier when thrown into it, with the exception of Mac's (and his son, Jake) teleporatation. The Bean Titans learned from not having this degree of protection from Wrinkle's challenge to them, before Floppity's soul was lost years ago. Surely, no innocent person died, but some people did get hurt during the Legendary 12's matches.

With all this and more, the good times were ready to begin again.

The Legendary 12, Lucky, Frisbee and the members of Team Z were in a press box (which was also the Danger Room's control center), located between the upper and middle sections of the stands, on the northern side of the arena.

"We ready to do this thing?" Sweet asked the other Titans near him. They all approved. "All right then."

Mac went to Sweet, touched his shoulder, and warped him to the center of the Aeroseum arena. Once he was there, Sweet nodded at the cardinal, thanking him for his quickness. Sweet then held the microphone he had in his hand to his face, after looking all around the Aeroseum to see all of the stands filled with Titaniacs.

"Well how about that Mac, folks? Fast, isn't he?" Sweet opened up.

Much of the audience applauded Mac, who was momentarily shown on one of the big screens via Watcher camera.

"How're we doing tonight, everyone?" Sweet continued, as the tens of thousands in attendance roared in excitement. The orangutan resumed after some of the noise settled down. "As you may already know, I am Sweet Summers: leader and founder of the Bean Titans. I've been at this hero thing since I was eight years old, before I even had the first Titans Tower built. I'm an old man of 50 years now... but hey, I'm still strong and I'll keep on fighting until the end. **_*applause and cheers*_** If you'll look over to the press box area, you'll see the rest of the Legendary 12 and a few more Titans sitting and overseeing the events as they go on tonight."

A Watcher camera quickly zooms its view over to the press box and moves in on the heroes as Sweet talks about them.

"As you saw him before—Mac Cantínis. "Captain Charisma"—Canyon Walker. My lovely wife, Fleece Summers. The genius of the team—Dotty Harrington. The Rocky Mountain—Hippity Simmons. New York City's own—Fancy Walker. She calls herself Lady Luck—Floppity Simmons. The universal beauty herself—Mystic Rayne. Too cool for old school—Spunky Harrington. It's not just the white beret, she IS French—Kuku Cantínis. And finally, the Polar Express—Aurora Rayne. But wait, that's just the Legendary 12... we have others guests with us tonight. The five Bean Titans to the left are a part of a separate group within the Titans League called Team Z. We'll introduce them later. And, if you'll look to the right side of the Legendary 12, we have two members of Titans X here with us. The gray dog is Frisbee Whitaker and the dalmatian beside him is Lucky Dotsman, who is the leader and founder of Titans X. Go ahead and give them another round of applause for all they do."

The crowd followed his request.

_(BGM: "Rawk Hawk Battle" — Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door.)_

"Thank you. Now, I just have one question for all of you... are you ready?" Sweet said, lowering his voice and turning to the side.

The crowd began to cheer madly.

"I said, ARE... YOU... READY?"

The sounds of the people grew even louder.

"Then let's get down to business!" Sweet began. "The wrestling/full throttle entertainment of the Titans League has come back, to start a new legacy unlike any other! No folks, I'm not talking about the Titans Wrestling Federation; I'm talking about something even better than that. This is something that's brand spankin' new, in your face, and so damn real... you won't want to get out of your seats! Ladies and gentlemen, this is now TUE—Titans Unlimited Entertainment!"

At this point, most of the crowd goes wild at this announcement.

"If you've seen TWF before and are back to see what TUE is about, then you haven't seen ANYTHING yet! Here's what I'm talking about... Dotty, bring out the ring."

At his request, Dotty began to punch in a few button combinations in the control panel. Within five seconds, the center of the arena suddenly changed, revealing an octagonal wrestling ring that is the size of the original Danger Room—taking up less than a fifth of the entire battleground. The crowd was amazed not only by the size of the ring, but also at how it got there. It was just like magic.

Sweet stood in the center of the eight-sided ring. "This here ring is only a very, very small taste of what's to come later. Now, for those of you that are new to this, you should know that you're in for a great night. Other than myself and those in the press box, each and every Bean Titan will put on a hell of a show for you guys. Now, I will send this over to the rest of the Legendary 12 in the press box, who will tell you much of what to expect tonight. Enjoy!"

**/-/**

Oh yes, there will be action... there will be surprises... and it's all UNLIMITED.

Stay tuned.


	3. Opening Night!, Part 2

**AN: References used [previously]: Teen Titans, Justice League Unlimited, Final Fantasy VII (Crisis Core), Marvel/X-Men, Pokémon, Kids Next Door, Dragonball Z, Capcom, Naruto and WWE.  
In this chapter: TNA Impact and Family Guy.**

Chapter 3 — Opening Night!, Part II

A couple of Watcher cameras went back to the press box to view those in it. The people that were watching TUE on television could hear them.

"And what a night we have for you, folks!" Hippity began, as the big screens displayed the matchups for tonight.

"Seriously, we only have to tell you about two of the four events for tonight to psych you up." Floppity claimed.

"We're kicking things off with a huge 20-man Over the Top Rope Battle Royale!" Aurora followed up.

"Oh yeah... those Titans are gonna be flying all over the place in that ring tonight!" Canyon boasted.

"Whoever wins this Battle Royal will guarantee them a spot in the UNLIMITED Tournament this Friday. And if the person who wins this Battle Royale already has a spot in the tournament that day, we'll just pick at random." Fancy said.

"Which reminds me... we haven't explained what the UNLIMITED Tournament is about, especially for tonight, as it is the main event." Dotty said.

"Every event before the UNLIMITED Tournament later tonight will be just plain and simple wrestling, with no powers. This tournament, however, allows the use of our superpowers and gets rid of that small ring, so that the Bean Titans can use the whole arena to fight it out." Kuku began to explain.

"This is just what you wanted folks. You'll get to see what we do in our usual situations, and none of you will be in danger like last time. Nevertheless, this thing will be great!" said Spunky.

"16 combatants, 1 winner." Mac put in short.

"And that winner will have the opportunity to be named leader under a team of their choosing, unlike the way that we, the Legendary 12, and the New 12 came to be. It should be promising, if you ask me." Mystic announced.

"Yes, it will be." Sweet confirmed. "And look who just walked in—Good ol' J.R. and Jerry "the King" Lawler! How are you two doing?"

"Oh, we're great Sweet! We loved what you guys did back in TWF several years ago." Jerry responded.

"Except for the part where things got a bit chaotic, it was a hell of a time... in the good way!" J.R. boasted.

"I hear ya. We all learned from not having the people protected, so that's why we made this arena like the Danger Room back home. The arena is indestructible, and the barriers protecting the stands from the "intensity" is impenetrable." Fleece explained.

"That all sounds fine to me, as long as we get to see some good old-fashioned entertainment from you guys." Jerry spoke optimistically.

"Oh, you will... right now!" Sweet replied, just as the first entrant of the Battle Royale appeared.

* * *

_EVENT 1: 20-Man Battle Royale. (Dialogue is commentated by the Legendary 12, Jerry Lawler and J.R. Team Z, Frisbee and Lucky were just watching until the UNLIMITED Tournament started.)_

— First to appear was **Rufus** (age 20)—a young canine that most of the Titaniacs are very familiar with, as they shout his name over and over again. Whether he wins or loses, he is always a crowd favorite.  
— **Fetch** (age 19, a golden retriever) was next, who was one of Rufus's close friends. In the wrestling world, his style is high-risk mixed with relatively good strength (like Matt or Jeff Hardy).  
— Coming next was **Zack** (age 22), a tan-colored bear who makes his TUE debut tonight. Hopefully he opens some eyes tonight.  
— Then came **Nibbly** (age 15, gray bunny), who was the "Bamm-Bamm" figure—short, but quite strong.  
— Putting a twist on this Battle Royale was the first female entrant, Nibbly's twin sister, **Nibbler** (age 15, beige bunny). In this Battle Royale, she has an advantage because she can only be attacked by another female combatant.  
— The next female entered: **Tiny** (age 20, chihuahua). Like Beth Phoenix, she is strong and half the time immovable by her opponents.  
— Increasing the female presence in the Battle Royale was **Brenaia** (age 18, hersey brown dog). The Bean Titans recently found out that the now deceased Burn and Bruno, of Wrinkle's Syndicate, each had a daughter after joining Wrinkle a long time ago. It was until the girls turned five when the fathers decided to let them go, all because they thought that the daughters were both too "goody two-shoes" to have around. They were taken in to a foster home in nearby San Francisco, where they grew up. They are BFFs that have similar powers as their fathers (only not as deadly), but the only difference is that they joined the Bean Titans. It is only a rumor, but Brenaia has some feelings for Fetch.  
— Burn's daughter, **Bernice** (age 18, St. Bernard dog), also makes her debut on TUE in this Battle Royale. She, on the other hand, has the hots for Rufus.  
— Next was **Osito** (age 28, red bear). He hailed from Cancun, Mexico. In wrestling, he is one of the luchadors, having lots of cruiserweight moves in his repertoire.  
— Following him was **Kicks** (age 29, bright green bear), who makes his return to the Titans after a long time away. Here, he is a lightweight, but his legs are his greatest weapons—due to his love for soccer.  
— Entering the arena together were the puffin twins (age 19)—**Puffer** and **Puffina**. These girls have a knack for stirring trouble up in matches, but here, that may be nearly impossible.  
— Up next was the youngest entrant, **Waddle** (age 14, penguin). In the past, he was the weakest link in a tournament, but ended up winning it, being known for ending Ears' two-year undefeated streak. Here, he is the underdog yet again.  
— Then came **Jabber** (age 20, parrot), Puffina's boyfriend. He calls himself the "suplex machine" in the wrestling business.  
— Yet another bird comes into play—**Scoop** (age 35, pelican). He, of course, is one of the heavyweights, as he uses his large beak to his advantage at times.  
— Next came **Erin** (green bear, age 26), who, like Kicks, returned after a long time away from the Titans. She is a tough Irish cookie (the "Victoria" figure, per se), with enough skill to contend with Tiny.  
— Another female entered—**Hannah** (age 19, light brown dog). Her in-ring ability matches that of ODB in TNA wrestling, having the body type to handle it.  
— Taking spot #18 was another crowd favorite and friend of Rufus. **Tuffy** (age 21, terrier dog) is no pushover in the ring, and his wrestling niche is just like that of Christian's in reality.  
— Just as the other entrants were ready to tear it up, the last two entrants made the scene. **Valentino** and **Valentina** were opposite sex twins (age 30, bears) that didn't really wrestle. They expected to bond with their "opponents" without laying so much as a punch or kick to them.

The crowd loved the comedy act put on by the twins... that was, until the bell rang. Valentino and Valentina had their backs open when the bowed to the audience. Then suddenly, Nibbly and Nibbler proceeded to send them over the top rope and out of the match.

"Oh!" Canyon exclaimed.

"Now THAT'S just unfortunate..." Dotty uttered, holding emphasis on "that's".

"And there they go!" Jerry shouted, as the rest of the entrants began to duke it out.

"Ladies and gentlemen, TUE is underway! And things are about to get crazy..." Sweet announced.

"I'll say! Look at... the parrot—Jabber! He's giving suplexes to all the male Bean Titans!" J.R. pointed out.

"Yes. But the question is: can he get ALL of them?" Mystic questioned.

Jabber delivered his seventh suplex, to Tuffy. Just he was about to call it quits for the suplex montage, Waddle tried to side kick him. The parrot stopped his leg, and then dodged the penguin's other leg, which swung at him. Waddle wound up facing away from Jabber, who would capitalize by taking Waddle down with a German suplex.

"There's number eight." Mac counted.

"And here comes nine... oh boy..." Fancy murmured, as Scoop was the only other male Titan that did not get suplexed yet.

As the pelican and parrot went toe to toe, the female fighters would get some action of their own. The puffin twins went head to head against Bernice and Brenaia, while Tiny, Nibbler, Erin and Hannah began to one-up each other.

The third elimination was bound to happen when Jabber, with the help of a turnbuckle, finally managed to get Scoop over the top rope with a weak suplex—but not out of the ring. Scoop then banged his beak on Jabber's head, causing him to fall down. Just when he was about to get back into the ring, the puffin twins got flipped over the ropes and remained standing on both sides of the pelican. Then, in a rush, Hannah decided to pull off a flying crossbody press, vaulting over the ropes and taking the three groggy opponents with her, out of the ring.

"Oh my god!" J.R. exclaimed.

"Wow..." Fleece followed after him.

"Four Bean Titans eliminated at the same time!" Spunky shouted.

"And check out Tiny, defending herself from Bernice and Brenaia..." Canyon uttered.

"Although this is their first match, those two canines are doing pretty well. I mean, they weren't eliminated first." Fleece said.

"I hear ya, but it's gonna take a whole lot more than just luck to bring Tiny down. She's as tough as they come." Aurora replied.

Tiny eventually had the thought that she had Brenaia down for the count, and that she could focus on Bernice. However, it was really a plan by the two dogs. Bernice took a few hits, until Tiny decided to Irish Whip her to one of the ropes. Then, Bernice suddenly evaded her attacks as she ran back towards her. While that was going on, Brenaia slowly got back to her feet and prepared what she and Bernice called the "Interceptor". They both hit two different ropes at the same time and approached their opponent, delivering a dropkick from both sides to put Tiny in a daze. Now they had to act by eliminating her.

Unfortunately, as they ran to her, Tiny pulled down on the ropes to not only avoid their attack, but send them up and over them as well. Tiny had taken them out of the match, and with that in mind, she needed to put her focus on the remaining two girls. Before she could even turn around, Nibbler jumped over Tiny's back and threw her body balance off, sending her out of the ring. Nibbler remained standing on the apron.

While the girls were going at it, Fetch, Osito and Kicks were all eliminated out of the males that were still alive in the match.

"Look at Zack, celebrating after eliminating Fetch..." Mac spoke with little enthusiasm.

"Uh oh... look at Waddle!" Kuku mentioned.

The young penguin ran to a turnbuckle and flipped off of it once he noticed that Zack was in the right position. Waddle clipped his legs on his head and used his body to propel Zack to the turnbuckle, making him hit it with his head, causing dizziness. He was slowly walking in the space in front of Nibbler and he didn't know that Erin was charging hard to eliminate Nibbler while she was on the other side of the ropes. She ran into him and both were eliminated after Nibbler pulled down the ropes from her side. She got up again.

Unfortunately for her, Jabber was sent running into the ropes that she held, causing her to fly off of them and land on the ground below.

"Aw, Nibbs..." Hippity murmured, sympathizing for his daughter.

"And we're down to the last five!" Sweet exclaimed. "Who will earn or protect that tournament spot: Tuffy, Waddle, Rufus, Jabber or Nibbly? We're gonna find out, because there aren't any commercial breaks! Ha ha!"

The crowd began to chant Rufus's name again. Acting on this, Nibbly decided to deliver a heavy clothesline to him. After, he and Waddle went head to head, while Jabber and Tuffy did the same.

After a couple of minutes, Waddle managed to deliver a Super Kick to Nibbly, knocking him down on the mat. Waddle had to take a rest after the punishment he took from the strong bunny.

Jabber wound up on the other side of the ropes after Tuffy threw him over. The dog came back to knock him off of the ring, but the parrot countered by stopping his arm and pecking him in the head. In a hope to capitalize, Jabber attempted to suplex Tuffy out of the ring, getting his wing over the dog's head. He nudged Tuffy twice, to get a clue of how much strength he needed to use to lift him over. He did not use enough, as Tuffy floated over and landed next to the parrot. They both threw punches at each other, hoping to see who would fall out of the match.

The outcome? Both of them were eliminated because Waddle got up, ran towards the two of them and performed a dropkick, with his legs aimed at one of their knees. Upon impact, Jabber and Tuffy tripped and landed out of the ring.

"What a smart move! How is he still in this match?" Jerry asked, amazed at how Waddle was doing.

"All I know is that this is his moment! He can win this if he plays his cards right against Rufus and Nibbly..." J.R. said.

The penguin saw that Rufus was slowly getting up, so he got up on the turnbuckle nearest him and performed a Missile Dropkick when Rufus got on his feet. It connected, laying Rufus down again. Afterwards, Waddle and Nibbly got back up at the same time, but it was Waddle who would again capitalize, striking the bunny with a combination of kicks. Finishing the combination with a high leg drop, Waddle prepared to use his signature move.

"Uh oh. I think I know what's coming next..." Mystic proclaimed.

"He calls this the Spin Cycle. He starts out with a springboard moonsault and goes into a hurricanrana pin down, which evidently sends a shock to his opponents neck and upper back." Dotty explained, as Nibbly was slowly getting back to his feet.

Waddle completed his moonsault, after jumping off of the ropes near him. However, when his legs landed on Nibbly's shoulders, the bunny somehow had the strength to lift the penguin's entire body up and over the ropes, eliminating him.

"Oh my lord in heaven...!" J.R. shouted, surprised at how Waddle's move was turned around.

"That's the power in him... you can't shake it." Floppity claimed.

"Oh wait, here comes Rufus!" Canyon exclaimed, immediately after Floppity.

Rufus ran toward Nibbly to take him out, as he was distracted. Nibbly, however, moved aside and made Rufus throw himself to the other side of the ropes, but still not out of the match. Nibbly turned around, and before he could realize that Rufus wasn't eliminated, the canine clipped his legs around the bunny's neck and used his entire body weight to send him out of the ring, pulling down on the middle rope for extra leverage.

The bell rang again, as Rufus rolled back in the ring to celebrate his victory.

Fancy turned the mic on in the control center. "Here is your winner... Rufus!" she announced, turning the mic off afterwards.

The thousands in the crowd wildly chanted his name once again, and the noise was louder than ever.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

_EVENT 2: Scorch vs. Roam, in a Test of Strength._

Five minutes later, Dotty (still in control of the field situations) made the ropes and turnbuckles in the ring disappear for the Test of Strength event. This "no-powers involved" contest was organized just like a sumo wrestling match, where the fighters would try and push each other out of the boundless ring. However, the two Titans involved had nowhere near the mass of sumo wrestlers, but in TUE, they were the top two heavyweights.

Roam (age 35, buffalo) is a heavy set fighter—a powerhouse. Without using his real powers, he can lift three Bean Titans at once! Sometimes, it is even believed that unless someone can pack some serious strength on themselves, Roam is pretty much immovable.

Scorch (age 45, offset gray-colored dragon), as a fighter in both the wrestling and Titans' worlds, is a force to be reckoned with. Many of his opponents would be intimidated by the sight of Scorch, as he has enough power to send someone over halfway across the ring.

The question is: who's stronger? As everyone watching would soon find out, Sweet (standing in the ring between Scorch and Roam) gave Spunky the signal to ring the bell, to start the contest. The simian backed up so the two powerhouses could do their thing. He also held a microphone for open commentary, so everyone could hear him.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you're witnessing two worlds colliding at this very moment. Whether or not you've place any bets on either the fire-breathing dragon or the earth-shaking buffalo, all I know is that SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE! Two mastodons of power forcing against each other with sheer brute strength—oh, the humanity...!" Sweet shouted, getting into character.

The crowd loved both of the acts, as Roam almost had Scorch pushed out of the ring.

"He's sure having fun with this..." Mystic murmured from the press box.

30 seconds later, the buffalo gave out one final big push, to force the dragon off of his feet and hitting the ground outside of the ring. Spunky rang the bell again.

"Here is your winner... Roam!" Fancy announced, declaring the victor again.

After Sweet raised Roam's arm, the buffalo turned to multiple sides of the crowd in the Aeroseum, flexing his huge muscles and letting out sounds of intensity.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

_EVENT 3: Titanic Roulette_

"All right, folks. We're gonna have a brief intermission period now." Sweet said, as some people began to get out of their seats. "You do know I'm kidding right? This is Titans Unlimited Entertainment, and there are no commercial interruptions! The longest break we'll ever have is five minutes... and seeing as though we're still going strong, why stop?"

The crowd cheers.

Sweet smiled. "Yeah, I thought so. Well then, on with the show—to the third event of the evening! This one, however, involves no Bean Titans... you heard me right, none of us. This is Titanic Roulette, and one of you lucky fans will get to answer a good question for a chance to win a great prize! And now, without further ado, let's see who the lucky fan is... take it away, Mystic."

Fancy turned the press box PA System on for Mystic.

"If you'll view any of the big screens of the Aeroseum, you'll see a roulette wheel with many colored rows on it. I will pick a seat completely at random by spinning the wheel, and the arrows on it will determine who will be chosen for the question. Mac, here, will also come and teleport that person to Sweet in the ring, to not only meet him up close, but also answer the question. So, here we go..."

Mystic turned the wheel hard with her telekinesis and let it spin as it pleased.

Dotty read the wheel as it slowed down. "If you're sitting in the Southeast stands..." she began to specify. As she announced the position of the lucky fan, the location that was spoken of lit up so everyone could clearly see. "In the upper section... seat number seven... of row fifteen... you're the lucky contestant of tonight's Titanic Roulette!"

The person in the crowd that was chosen looked a tad sleepy. It was a young man who looked to have had a long and hard day... until now. Mac came and teleported him down to the ring.

"Hey! What's your name?" asked Sweet.

"Chris Griffin."

"How are you doing today?" asked Sweet.

"Better now!" replied the young man.

"Good, good."

"Hey, I remember having fire powers at one time..." Chris said.

"Oh really?" Sweet uttered, surprised to hear this.

"Yeah, but it was only for a week though. Me and the rest of my family had nuclear waste splashed all over us at out house, and that was when we all got different powers."

"Hey, I like this story... tell me, how'd you use yours? Give me an example."

"I made someone at school run away from me while I was pointing a flame at him telling him to "burn for it"."

"Really? Well, can you show me how you did it? **_*points his finger*_** I mean like..."

"Yeah, I just did this and yelled: BURN FOR IT!" Chris told him.

"BURN FOR IT!" Sweet exclaimed, shooting a stream of fire a few yards away from them.

Chris clapped and laughed in a high pitch.

"Ok, that was pretty fun. Now, are you ready for the question?" Sweet asked.

"Yes, sir."

"All right then, here it is: who in the Bean Titans is given the title, the Great Hero?"

Chris thought about it for a second.

"Can I have a hint?" Chris asked.

"Sure. It is a Bean Titan in the Legendary 12." Sweet told him.

"Okay... well, when I think of "Great", I think of Alexander the Great because we talked about him in school—so the person has to be a guy." Chris figured, as he was on the right track. "You said Spunky was too cool, so it's not him. Canyon was "Captain Charisma", and most of the others sounded off too... so... is it... you, Sweet?"

Sweet looked around for a moment. "My god, the boy is a winner! He's right! I am Sweet Summers—the Great Hero, himself. Congratulations, Chris!"

"All right! What did I win?" he asked.

"You and your family have won the chance to stay a week at the Titans Tower that we call the "Home Base", back in Galveston!"

"All right!"

"You'll love it, trust me." Sweet told him, while he gave Mac the signal to teleport Chris back to his seat. "I'll see you then."

"Okay, bye!" Chris said as he departed.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

_EVENT 4: The UNLIMITED Tournament_

_(Background music: "Menu Theme 1" — Super Smash Bros. Melee.)_

The crowd began to cheer wildly as they heard the tune. They got even louder when Sweet got out of the ring and ascended to his Sacred Power effortlessly.

"And now, the moment you've all been waiting for..." Sweet uttered in a low voice. "The ring will disappear."

Dotty made it so, leaving Sweet on the spacious arena.

Sweet then turned to the south, where there was the opening to the backstage area. Sixteen Bean Titans emerged out of it and took their stand nearby Sweet, in the middle of the Aeroseum arena.

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls... all of you here tonight, and those of you watching at home will bear witness and be amazed, awe inspired, and electrified by the first-ever UNLIMITED Tournament here on TUE!" Sweet announced with great flamboyance, as a Watcher camera zoomed out during his announcement.

The crowd cheered extremely loud.

"In this tournament, there's no such thing as ordinary wrestling at its finest—oh no..." the orangutan continued. "Here, there's no ring, no boundaries, and most of all... NO LIMITS. These sixteen Bean Titans are allowed to go all out like they do around the world and in training. Oh yes, you will see pure Bean Titans combat, as all powers are completely legal! The winner of this here tournament won't just be the victor; he or she will also be named the official leader of a team of his or her choosing. I am the leader of the Legendary 12, and my son, Mooch, is the leader of the New 12. Who knows? Maybe we'll have a third group of 12 after tonight. Either way, I hope everyone is ready for this... because I know I am—I'm the referree! Hehe... all right then. Let's do this thing: let the UNLIMITED Tournament begin!"

**/-/**

The tourney begins in the next chapter.

Check it out. :)


	4. Throwdown!, Part 1

**AN: I will try to go through as much detail as possible in the tournaments. It might not be at all good, but at least I tried.**

**Gigi's words frequently include her French accent, so I show this clearly by using Bold+Italic text and replacing the "th" in the starts of words with "z".**

**I will also include a new notation: [I^I] (followed by) [O^O]. This will dictate periods in time when those in the press box (the Legendary 12, Team Z, Lucky, Frisbee, J.R. and Jerry Lawler) will have their comments heard.**

**References used [previously]: Teen Titans, Justice League Unlimited, Final Fantasy VII (Crisis Core), Marvel/X-Men, Pokémon, Kids Next Door, Dragonball Z, Capcom, Naruto, WWE, TNA Impact, and Family Guy.  
In this chapter: Bleach, Final Fantasy XII, and Code Geass.**

Chapter 4 — Throw-down!, Part I

* * *

In the tournament, the comments from those in the press box are still heard, but the words from Sweet (remaining on the arena as the referee) and the Bean Titans in the tournament were heard by all.

So without further ado...

* * *

_**UNLIMITED Tournament, First Round!**_

_MATCH 1: Gigi vs. Rocket._

"You might know the Bean Titans in the wrestling world, but in reality, it's VERY different. Here are the two Titans kicking this thing off in the first match." Sweet began, before he raised his hand, directed at Gigi. "**Gigi Morreaux:** the 19-year-old black French poodle who has her heart set on winning this match. You all don't know this, but she is the only Bean Titan that has not advanced from the first match in EVERY tournament in Bean Titans history. Despite this, she aims to prove everyone wrong... including the Bean Titans that belittle her. She tells me that her days of failure are over; we shall see. Her powers are comprised of mainly darkness and water abilities."

"Ha... I'd still doubt it." her opponent murmured.

"Gigi's opponent is **Rocket Ray**: a 20-year-old blue jay who lives for the speed of things." Sweet continued, with his other hand raised in the other direction. "Gigi will probably have her hands full here, because Rocket is definitely not an easy bird to catch. Along with his minor water powers and Gentle Fist style of combat, he is the fastest flying bird in the Bean Titans. It takes serious skill and super keen eyesight to stop him. So try and keep up... because this match is underway! Titans, throw-down!"

After Sweet distanced himself, Gigi and Rocket began to circle each other, keeping the same distance apart as they were while the Great Hero was speaking.

"I saw your mouth moving while Sweet was speaking. What was **_zat_** about?" Gigi interrogated Rocket.

"It's no secret. I'm not the only one to think this, but you have no chance in hell of beating me... just because it's the first round, let alone the first MATCH." Rocket proclaimed.

"Rocket, I will only say **_zis_** one more time, and I suggest you believe it... starting right now, **_ze_** days of me losing _**ze**_ first round are officially over."

Rocket gave a quick chuckle, then smirked. "Well... what makes you think that you can beat me?" he wanted to know.

"**_Ze_** fact that I know I can." Gigi answered, stopping where she was and closing her eyes.

Rocket grunted, getting a little pent-up from her confidence. He rose to his Legendary power. "I hope you can catch your breath! Aqua Jet!" he shouted, enshrouding himself in a pod of water and flying towards Gigi at a high speed.

Just before any contact was made, Gigi, still keeping her eyes closed, simply made a short sidestep to avoid the speeding blue jay.

_"What the..."_ Rocket thought as he passed by the poodle.

He flew around and tried to ram her again, but this time, she evaded him by a quick Flash Step—a movement that allowed her to move quicker than the common eye could follow (nearly a teleportation).

Rocket stopped his Aqua Jet and stood to get a side glance at Gigi, with his eyes bulged. _"Flash Step?/! She didn't know that move before... there's just no way she could have learned it in over a month!"_

"Trying to catch your breath?" Gigi wondered, opening her blue eyes and looking at Rocket.

Her comment angered Rocket, as he grasped his full power. "SHUT UP! I'll show you!" he yelled back, going high into the air to perform aerial loops. Rocket was preparing to use his Aerial Ace, as carried on by his last loop, in which he flew down to where he zoomed in the air just three inches above the ground. At this point, he used as much of his speed as he could muster while flying in towards Gigi. Most of his attacking energy was in front of his head.

Gigi, without a word, calmly ascended to her Legendary power and remained in her place once again.

Upon impact, there was an explosion of light from Rocket's Aerial Ace, which shielded everyone's eyesight from what happened. The crowd was really getting into this.

_"Yes! I made contact this time!" _Rocket claimed, assuming that he hit Gigi.

He was wrong. As soon as the last bits of light faded, Gigi was shown in the exact same place that she was, with her hand on Rocket's head. She was completely unharmed, as she appeared to have stopped Rocket's breath-taking speed without her arm feeling the slightest bit of recoil.

"Holy crap..." Sweet murmured, shocked to see this outcome. He and the Titans in the press box have never seen Rocket's speed stopped in an instant, and they were even more surprised because of the person who did it. Gigi, who had always been the weakest link in tournaments, made her point.

"It's over, Rocket. Now... it's my turn." Gigi claimed, as she suddenly focused dark energy (shown by visible violet light) on her hands and feet. She then thrusted her right hand at Rocket, hitting him with an uppercut to send him into the air.

"Guh!" uttered Rocket when he was hit.

"And just so you know, I'm quick too. Shadow Blazer Fury." Gigi announced, before she performed one of her heavy moves. She nearly imitated Rocket's flight speed and hit him with swift strikes (rams, punches and kicks) of dark energy from place to place, to what looked like aerial pinball. Gigi finished her combo by plummeting Rocket to the ground with a lateral roundhouse Dark Kick.

Still amazed, Sweet came close to check on the status of the blue jay. Rocket could not get up after the painful onslaught.

"Rocket is unable to continue fighting. The winner of the 1st match is Gigi! She's done it!" Sweet announced.

The crowd roared in excitement and applause after what she had just accomplished. The next two fighters were in the south opening, simply shocked by what just happened, even as Gigi passed them by to take her resting period.

_"Sweet, can you hear me?"_ Mystic asked him with telepathy.

_"Yes...?"_

_"Dotty got a reading on Gigi's power level."_

Sweet's eyes bounced. _"And, what was it?"_

_"Over... 9,000."_

_"Mystic... could you be, I don't know, more specific on that?" _Sweet requested, getting a bit over the joke.

_"Okay! Dotty said it was 11,500 BEANs... which is freaky."_

_"Whoa..."_ Sweet murmured, as the next two fighters walked onto the arena. _"Well, I gotta focus on calling down the next match. Get back with me before the quarter-finals."_

The crowd was still cheering, now excited for the matches to come.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

_MATCH 2: Rover vs. Tracker._

"In this match," Sweet began, "we're putting fire against fire because both of these Titans have mostly the same powers. It should be interesting. To my right, we have **Rover Redds** (age 23): a red dog with what I like to call a "red" personality. He claims that every Bean Titan he has faced in a tournament—including the ones that defeated him—is weak because of the skills they have. Well, I've decided to test his theory by putting him against some of the best of the bunch, which brings me to his opponent. The street-smart, droopy-eared dachshund **Tracker Harrington** (age 20) is one of our top contenders here. He tends not to rely on using his powers to win his matches because he knows that his versatile fighting skills are lethal enough. When he decides to use his powers, he becomes an even bigger threat to his opponents. Well then, let's see how this match will turn out. Titans, throw-down!"

Sweet backs out of the way, after finishing the introductions.

"You're just stupid, dude." Tracker bluntly uttered.

"WHAT?" Rover backtalked.

"Honestly, what makes any of us weak? Bean Titans have no reason to be called weak for the things we do. If you ask me, you're just filled with a lot of hate."

Rover charges in. "You're lookin' to get bruised!"

Tracker anticipated that Rover would use his right fist as his first attack. He simply leaned his upper body away from Rover's arm to avoid it, and then grabbed it. Tracker then kneed Rover in his gut while wrapping one of his arms over his neck to restrain him. After dealing the damage, Tracker then flipped Rover over, planting him on the ground.

"You need to chill." Tracker told him, giving a few steps of distance as Rover slowly got back to his feet. "Whatever your problem may be, I guarantee you that this fight won't solve it. If you still think the same way, I advise you—just give up the match."

"And why would I do that?" Rover asked, as he fired a huge fire blast at Tracker.

The hound dog crouched down and flapped his long ears, propelling him into the air and avoiding the flames completely. "Because if you see yourself as stronger than everyone, you would be able to hit me."

"SHUT UP!" Rover growled, pounding the ground hard with both fists at the same time. At that instant, a multitude of flaming comets bursted from the ground and sought to home in on Tracker's position in the air. Rover called it his Hellfire Crash. All of the blasts collided with each other, where Tracker was floating. _"Gotcha..."_ he thought.

"That was your third strike, Rover." Tracker said, his voice being heard from behind Rover. It is figured that Tracker must have used a Flash Step to get to where he was now, without so much as a scratch.

"No..." the red dog whispered, slowly turning around.

"You're out."

Tracker then delivered one of his many combinations. He struck Rover hard with an energy-powered right fist to the center of his chest, then followed up with a hard energy-powered uppercut (left fist) to the bottom of his chin, and finishing by jumping high into the air to send Rover high up with a quickly rearticulated left uppercut strike. This move, Shin Shoryuken, left Rover unable to move on the ground, after landing on it hard from being in the air for at least 3 seconds.

"Rover is unable to battle. The victory goes to Tracker!" Sweet announced. "Fleece and Mac, come and collect Rover."

As Tracker was on his way to the backstage area, Sweet caught up to him.

"I did good, right?" Tracker figured.

"Yeah, you did. However, just watch yourself in the next round. Gigi is a tough cookie now, and she's not in the mood for very many words." Sweet advised him.

"Got it."

/\/\/\/\/\/\

_MATCH 3: Luke vs. Fortune._

"Let's get match three underway!" Sweet shouted. "**Luke Anderson** (age 21), until now, has taught most of what Gigi knows. I don't know if something happened between the two of you, but I'd rather not go into that. Nevertheless, this black labrador has the same elements of darkness and water that Gigi has. On the other side, the curvy panda bear you see here is **Fortune Song** (age 22). Like Tracker, she is another of our top Titans as compared to the whole pack. She has many powers, but just to name a few: she has light elemental skills, a mild psychic ability, and is a Red Mage—being able to use both White and Black Magic. The others, you'll probably see for yourself. Titans, throwdown!"

"Something happened with you and Gigi?" Fortune questioned.

"Could we not go over this now? This is the UNLIMITED Tournament, not Secrets Revealed." Luke retorted, focusing his dark energy into his entire right arm.

"You didn't break up with her, did you?" she persisted, remembering that Luke was Gigi's boyfriend.

"Hush your mouth!" Luke shouted, firing a heavy dark blast at Fortune.

Fortune stood where she was and pointed at the ground just in front of her, causing a wall of pillars of light to rise high and negate the dark blast. This was called Northswain's Glow.

"Well apparently, I'm on the right track." Fortune continued, after the clash of light and darkness settled down. "The two of you aren't together then..."

"No! You just can't understand!" Luke cried, commencing a burst-speed, hand-to-hand combat rave with her (as seen from the action of Dragonball Z).

_"Fortune's different right now... she didn't start the match off like she usually does, casting Regen on herself to automatically heal slowly over time. It's a new strategy, and a pretty smooth one at that. She's getting into his head. Come on Luke, you gotta focus..."_ Sweet analyzed.

Luckily, Luke seemed to have won the burst fighting contest, kicking Fortune about fifteen yards away from him. After seeing her stop on the ground, Luke quickly used a Flash Step to get in a position high in the air, fifty feet above Fortune. He then charged and threw down what he called his Dark Javelin—a spear of intense dark energy that created a ten-yard blast radius upon impact.

Luke then landed safely, facing the cloud of dust that he created from the explosion. "Looks like I got her."

_"That's where you're wrong..."_ telepathically mentioned Fortune, who was revealed standing three feet away from Luke after some of the dust faded. She had a thin stream of blood escaping her mouth, slipping from the left corner of her lips—this came from the burst fighting period in the match. However, even from the power from the Dark Javelin, she didn't show any further sign of fatigue or loss of health. Also, Fortune was giving Luke a heavy stare with her eyes, with one of them hosting a glowing crimson "wingspan" in the pupillary area. It was her Geass.

"Oh no..." Luke murmured, noticing the change in her eye a second too late, as its effect immediately took place on him, stripping him of self-control and turning the color of his eyes in the same color as the Geass from Fortune's left eye.

"On your knees." Fortune commanded Luke, and as her temporary slave, he had done so.

**[I^I]**

"What did she do to him?" Thunderbolt questioned in the press box.

"Like hell, I know..." J.R. uttered.

_"Her Geass..."_ Mystic figured in her mind.

**[O^O]**

"Now look at me and listen good..." Fortune continued.

"Yes, your Highness." Luke responded, sounding like he was in a daze.

The crowd was in awe and suspense, as they heard her words as well.

"I was only allowed to use this technique once in this tourney, and I couldn't use it at all if I got to the finals. I'll just take the opportunity now so it won't be a worry later. Now, if you were wondering why your move didn't work just now, then you should know two of the three reasons why I'm a part of the Angels in the Bean Titans. The Angels was the title that Sweet gave four female bears during the Titans Tower tour: me, Halo, Princess and Peace. But, even the Great Hero did not know that we all represented something greater, something that isn't of this Earth. Four seraphim gave us our respective powers and defined us as such. Halo is the Angel of Light, Princess is the Angel of Heart, and Peace is the Angel of Faith. My definition sounds oppressive to theirs and is also sort of a paradox, for you see, I am the Angel of Darkness. As this is the case, no darkness attack formed against me shall prosper—in other words, darkness doesn't hurt or effect me one bit. Good luck trying to find my weakness, because it isn't that clear. And about the third reason... **_*chuckle*_** you won't get to hear it, or rather, see it with your own eyes anytime soon."

"I understand, your Highness." Luke replied.

"Now, remain where you are..." Fortune dictated him, before using Northswain's Glow on him to end the match.

Sweet stepped into the match at this point. "The decision is a no-brainer, folks... the winner is Fortune!"

/\/\/\/\/\/\

_MATCH 4: Roam vs. Pouch._

"All right folks. Now that Luke has been carried away by Fleece and Mac, let's move on! To my right is a Bean Titan you've already seen earlier tonight, **Roam Pickett**. Like I said before, he packs a lot of power; and if you thought that his strength was impressive before, wait until this match gets underway. His opponent to my left, **Pouch Lee** (age 43), has her hands full. She surely cannot contend with his great physical power; however, this kangaroo packs most of her power into her legs, being able to kick quickly and jump extremely high when she wants to. She also has great energy control, being able to use a huge amount of power into a single attack. The question is: can she get close enough to Roam to land her kicks without him pounding her down to size? We'll see, right now! Titans, throw-down!" Sweet announced, pulling back afterwards.

"Magnitude!" Roam shouted, starting the match immediately by punching the ground beneath him hard, causing a visible earth "pulse" on the ground.

Acting quick, Pouch jumped high into the air to avoid the quake. As she was landing, one of her legs were lifted up vertically towards the sky. Pouch aimed to perform her Heaven Kick with that leg—which would crash down on the buffalo.

_"She probably shouldn't have jumped that high; it gives him more time to react."_ Sweet analyzed.

Using that time, Roam waited on just the right moment to stop her motion and hit her with his tusks.

"Gotcha..." he murmured, as he thrusted himself off of the ground to headbutt her, aiming for the back of her attacking knee.

Pouch gave off a smirk just before impact, when suddenly, she faded away in a quick moment, making Roam believe that he was hitting a hologram of her.

_"What the..?"_ Roam thought, feeling nothing but air when meeting Pouch's body.

Two seconds later, Pouch landed her Heaven Kick on Roam, backing it up with a tremendous energy burst to force a knock-back effect on Roam. The buffalo was sent crashing down to the ground.

"It's not over yet." Pouch uttered, ascending to Legendary, waiting on Roam to get up.

The buffalo got back on his feet. "Ya darn skippin' it ain't. What was that just now? A Flash Step or Shadow Clone Jutsu?" Roam asked her, using an old western tone.

"Neither, but you're close though. It's my Shadow Facade Jutsu." Pouch replied.

"Shadow Facade?" Roam wondered.

"It's the only technique of mine that I've kept hidden since I became a Titan. Before getting in this tournament, I thought about how my son (Sly) had his Shadow Clone Jutsu, and it reminded me of the similar move that I had myself. What you saw in the technique just now **wasn't** a clone or even a Flash movement. At the precise moment in time, I used a small burst of energy to create an afterimage and placed my real self just behind it, imitating whatever the image was doing for both an optical and physical illusion. So as long I as keep using this technique..." she paused, as she boosted her way to Roam with a Bazooka Kick (lateral missile drop kick), "there's no way you can touch me!"

**[I^I]**

"Man, Pouch might actually have Roam's number here!" Canyon exclaimed.

"The match isn't over until one of them can't move, and seeing that it isn't the case right now, I wouldn't jump to a conclusion just yet." Mac retorted.

**[O^O]**

_"No way, huh? Well, there's one thing I've learned too."_ Roam thought, staying right where he was. He then summoned the Armor of the Mantle—a commonly used defense armor among those with the earth element, calling upon hardened molten rock to drastically raise defense.

"Sweet, get ready to call the victory! This kick is enough to BREAK that armor!" Pouch called out.

Now Roam smirked just when he seemed to be hit again. Pouch was ready to embrace victory as his armor collapsed... but not in the way she had in mind. Roam, at the point of collision, was not clad in the armor, which had now "loosened", trapping Pouch on the ground under a bed of hardened magma. This was Roam's **Soldering Mantle** technique. In this state, the kangaroo could not move a muscle nor find the power to break out of the magma. Roam, meanwhile, used a Flash movement at the same time of ensnaring Pouch, putting himself high in the air. He was falling down to her with his Crater Crash Press—a power-packed body splash, strong enough to shatter a brick wall.

Pouch noticed his Legendary energy level high above her, and she could not do anything to avoid him.

The impact was made, breaking the hardened magma and leaving Pouch unconscious.

The orangutan shrugged. "The winner of this match is Roam!" he announced.

**/-/**

The first round of the tournament will have to be divided in half, due to document recovery issues that I have.

Nevertheless, enjoy!


	5. Throwdown!, Part 2

**AN: I fixed the Wudai coloring of the Xiaolin Rabbits here. Hippie's lining is blue, not white (I made this mistake in an earlier BTA Episode).**

**References used [previously]: Teen Titans, Justice League Unlimited, Final Fantasy (VII: Crisis Core & XII), Marvel/X-Men, Pokémon, Kids Next Door, Dragonball Z, Capcom, Naruto, WWE, TNA Impact, Family Guy, Bleach, and Code Geass.  
In this chapter: Sonic Adventure 2 and Xiaolin Showdown.**

Chapter 5 — Throw-down!, Part II

_MATCH 5: Jake vs. Chipper._

Sweet called in a Watcher camera and asked that it would direct its attention to who he was talking about.

"All right everyone. This match here is an interesting one because there's a clash between two different worlds. To my left (_the Watcher moves_) is **Jake Cantínis **(age 16)—a mallard duck that proves himself to be one of the most agile and technical fighters in the Titans. I don't blame him because he takes after his father, Mac. Along with his water powers, he inherits basically all of Mac's powers—teleportation, the Byakugan, and, from the words of Mac himself _(with a Spanish accent_): "His Gentle Fist techniques are even greater than my own." His opponent, **Chipper Charlotte** (age 15; _the Watcher moves to her_), has what is called the Sharingan—a change in her eyes that allows her to catch on to her opponent's every move and, given enough time and focus, counter as she pleases. The chipmunk's older squirrel sister, Megan, also has this, but the only difference is that Chipper's is much weaker, having only the Initial, or beginning, Sharingan. Will that be enough to contend with Jake? Let's find out. Titans, throw-down!"

As soon as Sweet finished talking, Chipper activated her Sharingan just as Jake activated his Byakugan. She knew that once she saw his bulging temples, she could not let him out of her sights, even for a short moment.

The duck made his first warp, appearing behind Chipper to kick her in the back. He made contact, but he hit a substitution.

"Gotcha!" Chipper exclaimed, aiming to hit Jake with an axe kick as she descended from the air just above him.

To her dismay, Jake had teleported again, just before the instant she made contact with a feather on his body. "Eight Trigrams (ET): Empty Palm!" he uttered, sending Chipper crashing to the Danger Room-like floor with a Gentle Fist air-strike.

Chipper was struggling to get herself up. _"Damn it..."_ she thought.

"Chipper, please... you think one substitution is gonna make me stall in one place so you can capitalize? Need I remind you that my Byakugan has the ability to see your chakra, or energy flow, no matter where it is? Your substitution is simply a pause and then a complete shutdown of your chakra. I then saw your follow-up attack coming because I clearly sensed your energy, no matter how much of it was being suppressed. You're gonna have to do better than that if you want to at least get one hit out of me. And if you think some miracle is going to happen by keeping your Initial Sharingan on your eyes, then you can forget that." Jake explained.

"Why should I then, huh?" Chipper asked bluntly, brushing through her light brown, short shag hair.

"It's not that hard to explain. From the day you were given your Blue Mage (copycat) ability when you joined the Bean Titans, your Sharingan hasn't evolved from the Initial stage. Your sister evolved hers in just two years, at the same time when you FIRST obtained those red eyes."

_(BGM: "A Requiem" — Bleach.)_

Chipper looked off. "You just don't understand." she murmured.

"What's that?" Jake retorted.

"Me and Megan live completely different lives." she stated, looking back at him with her now evolved Sharingan, two tomoe markings around the centers (pupils) of her eyes.

"How don't I understand that? Lucy's in the New 12 now, and I don't see her too often. What's your point?"

"Just as I thought... you don't know the half of it." Chipper remarked, before suddenly feeling a flurry of piercing blows to her back.

Jake had warped behind her, hitting her with about 20 Gentle Fist strikes. "How can you dictate what I can and can't understand?"

"Because you don't live my life!" she shouted, as she struggled even more to get up.

There was a moment of silence.

"Like I said before, you don't know even half of my story. Megan is my sister, that much is true... but we live distant lives from each other. Except for the time when we tried to save Scaly, we've lived a certain way ever since we've been breathing the same air. She's always been putting me down, always calling me her 'little' sister. But one day, I found out the real reason why she holds me down. I still remember her exact words, even to this day: "Chipper, I promise you that there will come a time when you will be able to the defeat the enemies that I can't defeat. Until that time comes, living and fighting together as siblings means nothing to me." It's not that I'm weaker than her; and it's not that we hate each other, either. It's our nindō—our pact as shinobi. Until I am able to live up to her standards and see to that day, this is the way we will live our lives. We are sisters AND rivals." pleaded Chipper, now on her feet.

Jake was left without words for a few seconds. "I see," he finally said. "Well, in a much clearer sense now, you're my rival too. You disrespect me for belittling my knowledge, and for that, I have a challenge for you as well. You might be able to hit me, and you may be lucky enough to even throw me to the ground... but until you can actually defeat me one-on-one, there's no chance that you'll be any comparable to Megan. Besides, you can't even counter my Gentle Fist!"

He then charged for her, with a Gentle Fist strike that he thought would end the match for her.

"That doesn't mean I can't try!_ I think I've seen your moves enough times in training..."_ she hoped, getting into a peculiar defensive stance.

_"That form... she can't be serious. That move isn't even in the slightest reach of her capabilities, even with the Sharingan!"_ Jake thought, thrusting his fist.

Chipper managed to slow down Jake's attack by grabbing the bottom of his wrist. However, the attack still connected lightly, covering Chipper's left eye. The crowd thought that the chipmunk was finished, as they were now in suspense.

Chipper had her eyes closed, giving Jake the notion that he had clearly done some damage.

"Jake? What are those things you call out in your attacks? The Eight... 'whats'?" she asked him.

"The Eight Trigrams." he responded.

Chipper opened her eyes (the left one was still covered). "Thanks for reminding me... Eight Trigrams, Rotation!" she exclaimed, emitting bursts of chakra while spinning to create a dome-shaped force field, that both protected her and attacked Jake.

_(BGM: "Ultimate Secrets" — Naruto.)_

The duck was sent ten yards away, hitting the ground. After ten seconds, he rose to his knees and wore a look of utter shock.

_"How in the world did she pull that off?"_ wondered Sweet, signaling a Watcher camera to zoom in on Chipper's face.

_"That's impossible! She actually used the Eight Trigrams and performed the Rotation?" _Jake thought. _"There's just no way..."_

**[I^I]**

Jerry Lawler and J.R. left the "press box" to enjoy the action from the crowd's point of view.

"That was...!" Floppity murmured.

"Rotation... but that doesn't make sense. You'd have to learn Gentle Fist first, and then be able to synchronize it with every chakra point in your own body. And yet, that Rotation looked just as good as mine or Jake's." Mac stated.

"Being a Blue Mage means that the user can observe other movements and special techniques, and then use his or her own energy to be able to re-enact what they have seen." Dotty explained. "Their capability to do so is advanced even more with the Sharingan's special abilities. But... I've never seen this kind of development with it, even in Megan's training."

"What the...? Hey, look at Chipper's eyes!" Dep exclaimed.

Expressions of complete surprise were on the faces of the Titans in the control center when they saw the chipmunk on one of the big screens.

"No way..." Mac murmured, using his own Byakugan to see closely.

**[O^O]**

The Watcher camera that was zoomed in on Chipper's face revealed the new look on her eyes. Chipper had finally gained the true Sharingan (with 3 tomoe marks), but only in her right eye. Miraculously, her left eye—the same one that was covered by Jake's hand—was revealed as a **Byakugan eye, **which was something that was unprecedented in the Titans League. Chipper had somehow advanced two stages in her Sharingan eye, AND attained the seemingly all-seeing white eye—all in one battle.

Jake saw Chipper's new optic condition with his Byakugan. "Impossible..." he uttered.

_"I did the Rotation! I didn't actually think it would work though..."_ Chipper thought to herself, as she felt around the area that Jake's hand covered. "_What's this? There are these ridges almost like they're my veins, pulsing on the side of my face... and they're faint, but I can see blue pathways in Jake's body!_ Is this really... Byakugan?" she whispered, beginning to believe that she truly had it in her left eye.

"I don't know exactly how it happened, Chipper... but you should believe one thing right now. There's no way I'm gonna lose because of what just happened!" Jake shouted, assuming his "64 Palms" stance.

"I know this attack... I just don't know if I can block it." Chipper said to herself.

"Eight Trigrams... 2 Palms!" Jake began to yell as he attacked with more Gentle Fist strikes.

_"I see his movements clearly now, almost as if he were moving in slow motion."_ Chipper observed, as she managed to block Jake's attacks with precision.

Jake grunted. "4 Palms... 8 Palms... 16 Palms!"

After this point, Jake began to warp around Chipper in a hope to land at least one attack. To his dismay, the results were still the same. Chipper stopped and avoided every one of Jake's attacks, up until the 64th strike, in which she countered his attack and retaliated with a quick Gentle Fist attack of her own, striking his upper right chest. She sent him flying back again.

_(The music halts.)_

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are witnessing Titans UNLIMITED action at its finest right now!" Sweet announced, as the crowd cheered for the feats that the two Bean Titans were putting on.

Jake sighed as he steadily got back to his feet. _"I guess it's official now—it's not at full strength, but Chipper has the Byakugan. Plus, she just hit me with a Gentle Fist hit... and my chakra flow is limited through my right arm. Tch... I have no one to blame but myself. I was careless; I should have finished the match while I had the chance, instead of talking for a while. So now, I'll have to get serious and stop playing around."_ he thought, transforming his look of discontent into one of determination.

"His face changed. It's about time you started focusing, Jake." Sweet murmured.

Knowing that he hasn't used any of his elemental energy, Jake decided to speed things up by using a technique that expends it all at once. This technique was something that Jake himself made up. Jake had a deep blue aura around him while he was gaining enough energy for the move. "Try not to drown with this one... Water Style: Raging Sea Jutsu!"

_(BGM change: "Quincy's Craft" — Bleach.)_

Immediately after calling the name of his move, an enormous amount of water shot out of the ground beneath Jake—almost like a geyser—and, at the same time, began to flood the battlefield, up to about the height of the bottom of the middle sections where the audience was watching. Mac came to warp Sweet away from this situation.

Jake was standing (on the water; with chakra under his feet) in the center of the arena, on a pedestal made completely of a small fraction of the water he summoned. Chipper, too, was standing on the water, but at a distance from Jake. However, it didn't matter where she was because Jake controlled any and every molecule of water in the arena. He manipulated the water to attack Chipper with various shapes, such as serpents, tentacles/ropes, or simply waves.

_After about a minute of dodging..._

_"All right. I'm about ready to end this..."_ thought Chipper, as she switched over to her Sharingan style of combat. "I hope this is familiar to you, Jake!" she told him.

The duck watched, as he then saw her launch herself extremely high into the air with a jump. "That's... Pouch's high-jump ability. She must've studied her before this match." Jake figured.

"Right you are... and here comes the finale! **_Scattered bones of beasts! Towering crimson crystals... steel wheels! Acting on the wind, and stopping the sky. The sounds of piercing spears echo in the empty castle. Hado #63: RAIKOU__HOU_!"**

An intense shot of lightning is ejected from a crackling yellow orb in Chipper's right hand, as she began to make her descent towards Jake.

_"A lightning cannon? No... I can't let it hit the water, otherwise I'm done. But, there is a way I can still turn this around. I just need to use the right amount of energy, or whatever more I have left. I hope it's enough."_ he thought.

Jake turned his back on the Raikouhou and put his hands on the water surface below himself.

_"Is he giving up?" _Chipper wondered, as the shot of lightning was within twenty feet of Jake.

Jake gave a sigh before taking action. "Eight Trigrams... Great Rotation!" Jake shouted, using the water surface (via hydrokinesis) to speed up and increase the output of energy he put into his normal Rotation, creating an immense barrier of chakra that was four times larger than the original. This rotation span all of the flooding water rapidly, almost creating a whirlpool. At the same time, the Raikouhou managed to break through the barrier, but could not go far enough to hit Jake.

"Oh no!" Chipper cried, having no choice of direction except downward, towards Jake. As another misfortune, she used most of her energy to use Raikouhou.

The duck wasn't done yet, as he quickly slowed down. He was motioning his arms in a fluid fashion before coming to a stop. "Eight Trigrams: Vortex Palm!" Jake yelled, emitting one last chakra burst during his last couple of spins while thrusting his right arm towards Chipper's airborne position. Vortex Palm was similar to his Empty (or Air) Palm, but the only differences are that it is much more powerful and it sends the target spiraling uncontrollably in the air. As a bonus, due to all of the rapidly moving water on the battlefield, the Vortex Palm channeled every last gallon of water into a large twister, causing Chipper to suffer even more punishment.

At the expense of much of his energy, the twister collapsed early and his Byakugan could no longer sustain itself on his eyes. There was a good side to this, however... Chipper landed hard on the ground, clearly unable to move.

When the twister collapsed, Sweet signaled Dotty to use the "specialized" Danger Room controls to relinquish all the water in the arena, before going back to the field to call the match.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this was the first of the many intense matches to come. Jake advances to the quarter-finals!" Sweet announced.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

_MATCH 6: Hippie vs. Congo._

"Let's move along with the UNLIMITED Tournament, everyone!" Sweet began to say. "To my right, we have **Hippie Simmons** (age 23)—a ty-dye colored bunny who happens to be one of the best of the bunch in the Bean Titans, not counting the Legendary 12. Aside from his wind techniques and the use of these mystical objects called Shen Gong Wu, try to keep your eyes peeled on him... as he has super-speed to his advantage, being the fastest ground-moving fighter here. Honestly, I should be telling his opponent that, because **Congo Summers** (age 20; gorilla) is one of my sons. Yes, I was one of the main people to teach him everything he knows and I hope that he will impress me with what he's learned with his web-spinning abilities. If he has other moves, I'll be even more proud. Nevertheless, good luck to both of you. Titans, throw-down!"

Sweet distances himself, turning into the invigilator once again.

"Why the long face, Hippie? You look a bit upset." Congo asked, noticing that Hippity was not looking directly at the gorilla.

"It's just about Gigi." Hippity started off. "I understand that she's not messing around anymore, now that she finally passed the first round... but I just don't believe that she can make it to the final round. More importantly, I don't think she's qualified enough to even be leader of her own team—if she makes it and wins the final match."

"I understand something else, Hip." Congo replied. "Strong or not, everyone here in this tournament deserves a fighting chance at that opportunity. You can't just discount someone before they even set foot in this place."

Hippie closed his eyes. "I see your point..." he spoke solemnly.

"And something else too, unrelated to this... I don't understand what happened when the New 12 was chosen. Mooch and Sly were the first two names called, and I was absolutely certain that you were next in line. However, for some reason, you were placed in a tie with Gigi and six other Bean Titans for the LAST spot. That didn't make any sense because I always knew that the three of you were always blasting ahead of us, as far as respectability is concerned."

Hippie immediately took ahold of his Legendary Power. "I thought we had this conversation already, in the semifinals of that tournament! That was what I was trying to find out myself! I didn't consider myself any better than the others, but it still ticked me off that I didn't have a safe spot to claim for myself, instead of having to fight for one and end up losing to Megan. _(pauses)_ And now... I have my reason for competing in this here tournament: to go through any and every opponent and claim my right as leader of MY team!"

_(BGM: "Climb Up! And Get The Last Chance!" — F-Zero X.)_

Congo matched his power. "Get ready then, because I'm not forfeiting this time. Steel Net Barrage!" he shouted, rapidly spinning and shooting full webs of steel all around the arena.

Using his super speed, Hippie would easily avoid the flying webs and get closer and closer to Congo.

"You're gonna have to be a lot faster than that!" Hippie told Congo.

"Don't push it, man. Web Fortress!" Congo exclaimed, taking after his father's ultimate defense, now with 100% more ultimate.

"Ha! I can break through that... Typhoon Boom, Wind!" shouted the bunny, kicking the air to cause a sharp gust of wind to collide with the web dome. Unfortunately, the dome did not break, making Hippie stop and stand a few feet away from it. _"What the heck? Isn't this defense just like Sweet's? It should be broken..."_

"You know I can see you, right?" Congo warned him from inside the web dome, causing him to back up even more. "If you're wondering why I'm still protected, it's because my webs are mixed with the metal element. It's true that my dad made this same technique, naming it for defense... but I decided to take it to the next level. Sorry, but the only way you're gonna phase my steel webs is by hitting them with either fire or thunder, both of which you don't have."

Hippie sighed calmly. "Looks like I'm gonna have to take it to the next level then."

The bunny raised his power just as he spoke (the meaning behind "next level"), turning his body into a silhouette with cerulean blue lining. This was his Wudai Mode—his Ascended Legendary strength. Afterwards, he jumped high into the air and called forth both the Sword of the Storm and the Blade of the Nebula. He also equipped the Crest of the Condor, enhancing the power of any wind-based technique.

Hippie's course of action was as follows. He first propelled himself down towards the Web Fortress with a powerful gust of air escaping his feet. As he was descending, he made both the Shen Gong Wu blades spin closely and rapidly in front of him, to what looked like two razors colliding with each other. The blades acted as propellers, slowing Hippie's downward motion and eventually reversing it.

Congo felt the light breeze from the blades. _"He's moving back up?"_ he wondered.

"You forgot one other weakness... cutting-edge blades!" Hippie shouted, catching his blades at the perfect time, crossing them. **"Hado #58: Tenran!"**

Normally, this is just a powerful tornado wind attack... but with the Crest of the Condor, Sword of the Storm, Blade of the Nebula, AND his Wudai power, Hippie filled the entire battle space in a relentlessly sharp cyclone. The razor winds cut away at any webbing that Congo had already placed.

After the wind settled, Hippie clenched his teeth upon the sight of the outcome. "He doesn't have a scratch on him... how?!"

"I used all the webs in the fortress to use Iron Defense. And that had to be your best move just now... so now, it's my turn." Congo answered, generating high energy into his hands, creating two big blue orbs. "Buster Cannon!" he yelled out, shooting a powerful cannon blast upon the combination of the two orbs. Congo smiled, presuming that Hippie had no way to escape his cannon.

Hippie gave off a smirk, as he had something up his sleeve to turn this situation around. "Wudar Air Ride!" Hippie exclaimed, easily avoiding the Buster Cannon with what he called "anti-gravity flight". He combined his super speed with his wind powers to act as a freely moving jet, using nothing but the air around him to move.

Congo could not react to Hippie current speed, as he was hit by sweeping attacks from Hippie. Soon enough, Congo was sent into the air, where he immediately suffered great damage from another of Hippie's great combination techniques: the Helio Tornado. The bunny used the power of the Sword of the Storm to enshroud himself in a very dense pod of spiraling wind. While in this pod, Hippie acted as a missile forcing against Congo's body, until he hit the ground with great impact.

After the wind settled from the Helio Tornado, Sweet called the match, as his son was out cold.

"Congo, you did impress me... however, the winner of this match is Hippie!"

The crowd was still exhilarated, loving every minute of the action.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

_MATCH 7: Scorch vs. Bronto._

"There's just two more matches in the first round folks. Whether they take long or not, let's get on with the show!" Sweet announced. "To my left is another Bean Titan that you've seen before this UNLIMITED Tournament—**Scorch Fox**. Just like Roam, Scorch is a completely different force in this dimension of combat. It's not just his overwhelming strength, his heavy-hitting tail, or his raging fire attacks... it's his presence. Just about anyone who has faced this dragon in a match can tell you that he is fierce, with a capital "F". Just looking at him before the start of the match can intimidate you. Let's hope that young **Bronto Pierce** (age 14; brontosaur) can shake off that intimidation, as he faces the fierce Scorch, right now. Titans, throw-down!"

Scorch charged a lot of energy into his shiny wings, to where they were tripled in size and burning. He was preparing his Phoenix Rage attack—in which a flaming phoenix shoots out from the enlarged wings.

"I should warn you, Bronto..." the dragon began to say. "What I'm about to say goes for everyone waiting backstage. In this contest, I don't plan on taking anyone lightly, and I won't hold back."

"As long as you don't have those Chaos Drives, I'll be fine." Bronto replied, remembering how Scorch's power totally changed with the help of the glowing, colored batteries.

"No need to worry; I got rid of those. Just try and not make this match too short... Phoenix Rage!"

The flame attack zoomed towards Bronto, who executed a dodge roll to avoid the fire. He then looked around to try and find Scorch, but could not. The dragon revealed himself in the air, shooting a large number of fireballs at Bronto.

**_"Bakudo #81: Danku!"_** chanted Bronto aloud, summoning a large rectangular barrier to protect him from Scorch's fireballs. "So we're playing with fire, huh? No problem!"

Bronto then quickly charged two huge spheres of fire in his hands. He then tossed them at Scorch, who easily avoided them.

_"Yeah, this match is gonna be short if he's just picking at me..."_ Scorch thought.

"Falling Sun!" shouted the young Titan, closing his hands together with a clapping sound, before slapping them down to the ground. His hand movements were symbolic, with regards to the two fire spheres he threw up in the air. The clapping noise was really the two spheres joining together to make one gigantic fireball... and when his hands hit the ground, he was manipulating the flaming giant to fall down towards Scorch.

Bronto did not see the dragon move from his spot in the air, as the giant ball of fire engulfed him.

_"Did he actually get him?"_ Sweet wondered, looking up to try and detect Scorch's power.

"I could have used my Time Magic to help me, but I think what I did was just enough! Ha ha! I fought fire with fire..." Bronto boasted.

"Um yeah, that tactic doesn't work with me." uttered Scorch, who suddenly appeared after the giant fireball, somehow, COMPLETELY vanished within a few seconds.

Bronto wore a shocked expression on his face, assuming victory after unleashing a large-scale attack on the dragon. _"What the..? No way..."_

"I have a special ability that is only unique to me: Burning Resolve. To put it simply, any fire attack thrown at me will have no effect whatsoever. The spines that line down my back take in any fire-based source and negate all of its power. You should've tried a different plan." Scorch explained.

"Great..." Bronto spoke under his breath.

"Ember of Vengeance... target Bronto." Scorch commanded, releasing a floating flame to slowly home its way towards Bronto, wherever he was. This was the same flame that Scorch used on Scurry during Scaly's escape from the Titans. It sought to explode powerfully on the intended target.

"I gotta get rid of that thing somehow." Bronto figured.

"You can't." Scorch responded. "It'll follow you, no matter where you are. Dodging is useless. And, as I said before, I'm not going easy on any of my opponents. Time to dance... Meteor Shower!"

The dragon beckoned a storm of big fireballs to constantly rain down on the battlefield, to leave Bronto with little options. Fortunately for Bronto, none of the fireballs hit him directly; however, he did not realize what was really happening as the fireballs dropped close to him. The heat from the fireballs had a slight Slow effect on him, decreasing his movement speed. Bronto acted smart, using Haste to offset the Slow effect and keep dodging the "meteors" at a higher speed.

Scorch stopped the Meteor Shower when he noticed that the ember was close enough to Bronto, who soon realized that the falling fireballs stopped appearing. The young Titan also noticed that the Ember of Vengeance was within three feet of him. His eye's were set on his doom, but he gave off a smirk for some reason...

"NulBlaze!" Bronto shouted, conjuring a red-orange sphere of light to hover around Bronto. It was designed to protect him from the next fire-based move.

**[I^I]**

"He knows White Magic? Who taught him that?" Hippity questioned.

Fleece raised her hand slowly and reluctantly. "I did..." she admitted.

"Really, Fleece? Really?" Canyon uttered.

"Come on. Everyone else got their White Magic powers normally. I did, Ewey did, Fortune did... something had to change sooner or later." the lamb replied.

"Well, I wouldn't think that it will completely help him against Scorch." Aurora stated.

"Why's that?"

"Scorch isn't a pushover, not even in the least... and only a certain few of us can contend with him when he gets serious. Face it, if any of the youngest Titans are up against him, they have no chance. Felix was the only one who came really close." the polar bear explained.

"Which is the reason why Sweet put Bronto against Scorch in the early round—he wants them to be able to face up to such a tough opponent, instead of being stricken with fear." Mac said.

**[O^O]**

Bronto's line of sight was concentrated on only the fire around him. No matter what happened, he would not suffer any damage from it since he had casted NulBlaze.

"Tactics lesson 33: Don't fight on sight alone. Hope you learn from this one!" Scorch spoke.

The dragon's voice was heard behind Bronto, who noticed him a second too late. Scorch's brutalizing tail smashed against Bronto's back, launching him to the outer wall of the arena at a breakneck speed. After the young Titan felt his body collide with the solid wall, he could not move a single muscle—he was paralyzed from the attack.

Sweet came to check on him. "Bronto, can you continue?" he asked.

"Ah—I don't know. **_*cough*_**"

"Dotty's telling me, through my earpiece, that based on what she has read from the status boards up there, a big majority of your body is paralyzed. I can tell you honestly, I've faced Scorch before... and he's never had this level of seriousness before. He means BUSINESS."

"I know... **_*cough*_** that I have a chance to beat him... but today isn't that day. Go ahead and call the match."

Sweet understood, sensing that Bronto had eliminated the fear of facing Scorch in a match. "Bronto is unable to continue; the winner of this match is Scorch."

The dragon closed his eyes as he walked off. _"I'm sorry, but this is one tournament I can't take lightly."_ he thought.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

_MATCH 8:_ Cheeks vs. Crunch.

"All right, Titaniacs... here's the last match in the first round! To my right is another one of my sons; he may be an entirely different animal, but he is still Congo's fraternal twin brother, **Cheeks Summers** (baboon). I wanted to put them both in separate matches because I know how formidable they are as a team. You heard me right, folks. Sometimes, the Titans do team battles instead of singles matches... but I digress. As I told Congo, son: I want you to impress me in this tournament. Hopefully, your opponent won't get the best of you. Which brings me to **Crunch Zimmerman**. (age 27). Okay, I know you guys are wondering: how is a shark able to carry himself on solid ground and not water? If you'll look closely _(the watcher camera zooms in on Crunch)_, he has aquatic headphones latched on his head. It lets him stand and walk on his tail fin, and allows him to breathe. As for his power, you'll have to see for yourselves. Titans, throw-down!"

"This oughta be quick..." Crunch said to himself, firing a big Water Pulse attack at Cheeks.

The monkey held his position and simply formed a triangle-shaped space between both of his hands, which were touching, a few inches away from his chest.

"Tri-Beam, ha!" Cheeks exclaimed, emitting a large power beam from the space. It completely overtook the Water Pulse and continued on its course towards Crunch.

"Whoa!" he yelled out, barely avoiding the powerful blast.

At this point, the crowd began to chant "TUE" like ECW.

"You're actually pretty lucky, Crunch." Cheeks told him.

The shark was getting back up. "Why's that?"

"I can only use my Tri-Beam up to five times without completely exhausting myself."

"Is that so? _Well, thanks for the info. Now I know that you just sacrificed some of your own health into that attack. Guess I can start finishing you off now..._" Crunch thought, wearing a smirk on his face. He then ascended in power, to Steel Shark Mode. His entire body was now coated in steel, and his water powers are greatly enhanced.

_"This sucks..."_ Cheeks thought to himself. _"I haven't gotten my Ascended Legendary state yet, and neither has Congo. I hope it won't be my downfall right now. Wait a minute, no it won't! I can definitely win this; I just have to survive and wait on the right moment..."_

"This match is over for you, dude. Water Style: Deep Sea Predator Clone Jutsu!" Crunch announced, as three puddles of water appeared around him and soon morphed into aquatic replicas of sharks, hovering over the ground.

Cheeks had his guard up, putting his hands together again just in case he needed to use the Tri-Beam again. "No it isn't..." he uttered.

Crunch scoffed. "Says you." He then turned to his assistants. "Sic 'em, boys."

At that command, the water sharks suddenly bursted from their position, flying towards Cheeks at a very high speed.

Cheeks gasped, dodging the first shark. _"They're fast..."_ he thought, just as he evaded the other two by Flash Step. He was now several meters in the air, above Crunch, who was giving out the hand signs for the fearsome Water Dragon Jutsu. "Oh, no you don't!" Cheeks shouted, propelling himself to Crunch, in an effort to stop his Jutsu.

To his misfortune, the water sharks somehow reappeared in midair, coming out of an aerial puddle as if it were a warp hole or rip in space. They then joined together and formed one whole aquatic predator, just before colliding with Cheeks like a torpedo. At that instant, the shark self-destructed, releasing a powerful amount of water upon impact. As Cheeks was sent flying back into the air, the falling water spiraled around Crunch, who had just finished his chanting.

"It's over! Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" Crunch proclaimed, immersing himself in the head of the aquatic dragon, while making his way up to end the match by finishing Cheeks.

High enough in the air, the baboon recovered enough to slow his motion. Acting quickly and desperately, he launched a Web Ball at the head of the dragon—a move taught to by his father.

"Please! What's that little thing gonna do? I know you and Congo like thinking just the same. Your metal webs won't help you against me!" Crunch boasted, already tasting the victory ahead of him.

Cheeks smiled weakly. "Who said my webs had the metal element?"

_"What?"_ wondered Crunch, just as the Web Ball was inside of the water dragon's opened mouth.

As soon as the sphere of web touched the water, suddenly, electricity surged through every milliliter of water and every atom of steel on Crunch, completely stunning him and causing tremendous damage. The water that composed the dragon immediately fell apart, spreading all around the arena. Crunch followed its fall, making a big thud in the center of the battlefield, as his steel faded away, leaving only static coursing all around and through his body.

"It didn't matter whether the Web Ball hit you or not. That wasn't my plan." Cheeks began to explain, landing safely on the ground. "Thousands of shocks just went through every inch of your body, and the pain you took just then was pretty much overbearing. You had steel on your body and water surrounding you—both of which conduct electricity. The plan was simple. I just had to wait until you used a strong enough water attack while you were surrounded by water AND in your Steel Shark Mode. One web shot was all it took to completely turn this thing around. So now, **I** have the right to say this... it's over."

"And I have the right to validate this. Cheeks is the victor of this match! Well done, son." Sweet announced. "And with that, this is the end of the first round! The quarter-finals will begin in fifteen minutes. We need the time because those that are in the matches to come need to recover and fight at their full strength. Nevertheless, the battle standard has been set, and will only get better from here on out. We'll start up again, soon!"

With that said, Mac came to warp Sweet to the press box again, while Fleece tended to the defeated Bean Titans.

"Can I be honest with you all?" Sweet asked the congregation inside of the press box.

"What's up?" Fancy replied.

"I am overly amazed at what I'm seeing from the Titans in this tournament. They've REALLY honed their skills."

"Most of us are just the same." Mystic responded on behalf of the watching Titans.

"Yeah. I mean, the first round is already over, and it is so intense now." Hippity spoke.

"Heck, maybe we should spice things up, just to make things even more interesting..." Mac murmured.

Sweet overheard him. "Actually, that's not a bad idea, Mac. Dotty, get ready to work some magic..."

The conversation continues at the scene fades to black.

**/-/**

The quarter-finals are coming next.


	6. Making the Statement

**AN: Yes, I'm over-emphasizing Gigi's French accent. I mean, she CAN alter it so that she speaks plain English, but even so, she still lisps any word that begins with "th" and makes sort of a "z" sound instead. But... you guys get the picture, right?**

**So, I'll officially stop throwing you off by over-expressing her "th" words by Bold and Italic text effects, AND... I will spell them correctly.**

**References used [previously]: Teen Titans, Justice League Unlimited, Final Fantasy (VII: Crisis Core & XII), Marvel/X-Men, Pokémon, Kids Next Door, Dragonball Z, Capcom, Naruto, WWE, TNA Impact, Family Guy, Bleach, Code Geass, Sonic Adventure 2 and Xiaolin Showdown.  
In this chapter: Bakugan Battle Brawlers and Final Fantasy X.**

Chapter 6 — Making the Statement

"All right folks." Sweet began, with a welcoming smile. The crowd's noise escalated once more. "We're ready to get the quarter-finals underway! Now, during the intermission, I had a talk with the rest of the Legendary 12 in the press box and we all agreed that we would make this tournament just a bit more... interesting. It's time to show you all another big feature of the Danger Room, right here. Check this out."

Sweet then gave a signal to Dotty, who proceeded on by inputting a number of actions into the arena's system. After she was done, everyone witnessed that the battle grounds have completely changed from its original solid tiled floor. Within a few seconds, the total atmosphere of the Aeroseum completely changed and placed everyone in a mountainous region, where the two combatants fought on the hard, barren ground, patterned with many boulders and rock formations. The Aeroseum still retained some of its usual appearance; it was only the battlefield and the outside environment that changed. It was the special virtual effects of the Danger Room that added to the mix of the UNLIMITED Tournament.

The audience was in awe.

* * *

**_UNLIMITED Tournament, Quarter-finals!_**

_MATCH 1: Gigi vs. Tracker._

"Not to worry, everyone. We're still in the Titans Metropolis and near New York City... but what you see is more than meets the eye. You're looking at a virtual world, created by the functions of the Danger Room. The fighters here in the Danger Chamber will get down and dirty, as the first match of the quarter-finals will be bouted on the Terra simulation, featuring a playground that plays in favor with those of the earth element. This isn't the case in this contest, however, as Gigi and Tracker do not have the aforementioned element. They'll just have to work with what they have. All righty then... Titans, throw-down!"

Sweet backs out.

_"I won't say anything about her past in tournaments, now that her losing streak is over. I'll just get right to the action. I just hope she's ready."_ Tracker thought, starting off towards her with his hands open and moderately curved into his palms. He planned on starting the fight, using the fury of the Wolf Fang Fist.

_"Okay, so the first match is finally out of the way. I guess I might as well press on, now that I'm this far. It's no guarantee that I'll win the whole thing, but it's worth a try. Bring it on..."_ Gigi processed through her mind, as she began to block every attack that Tracker threw at her.

"This is just incredible." Sweet murmured as they fought. "Right now, Tracker is on full-on Legendary power, while it looks like Gigi hasn't broken much of a sweat. Even Tracker's power doesn't contend with the new Gigi. She's blocking everything he gives her."

It was true. The hound dog tried every close combat combination that he could think of. The Wolf Fang Fist, Shin Shoryuken, Shinryuken, Tatsumaki kick rounds... even the classic DBZ-style of fighting did not help him land a single hit on her. He was about to get serious, after five minutes of failures.

"That does it!" Tracker shouted, generating a large amount of fire-energy into his entire arm. "This will break through that guard of yours!"

The poodle put highly concentrated dark energy into her hands. "Ha! You're upset now. You don't stand a chance." Gigi claimed, while holding a particular stance. It was nearly the same as a Gentle Fist stance. The only difference was the positions of her hands and fingers. She had her left hand acting like a bear claw, with a concave curve and her fingers separated from each other. Her right hand looked more like a dagger—it was suspended in front of and over her chest, and pointing at Tracker, parallel with the ground.

Tracker thrusted his arm powerfully towards the black poodle, aiming to break and burn something within her body with a crushing fist. "Stone Smite!" he yelled.

Remarkably, Gigi somehow managed to stop his motion and energy in a complete instant, and then suddenly countered him with her dirked right hand, moving it at a ruthless speed and striking the center of his chest. The hound was immediately stunned, taking lethal damage and falling to his knees. Gigi called this counterattack the Rhino's Horn.

**[I^I]**

"This is unreal... now she's completely turned the tables on him." Kuku spoke, witnessing the match with the rest of the Legendary 12, Team Z (minus Durango, Derby and Danielle), and Lucky and Frisbee of Titans X.

"Yeah, but in ONE HIT? Tracker was giving all he had, and THEN some... but it doesn't look like he did too much damage." Spunky, his father, said.

"I'm just shocked that it happened to him—Tracker, of all the Bean Titans. He's usually an intense fighter." Canyon added.

**[O^O]**

Tracker was taking staggered breaths, while curling into his body, covering the spot where Gigi struck him with his arms. "This... isn't... happening." he said to himself, in disbelief that Gigi had him beat.

"You're lucky I didn't put more energy into that move. If I did, my hand would have, without a doubt, pierced through your chest." Gigi pauses, looking away. "I know now, where I stand in the Bean Titans. I stand on my own, incomparable to anyone. It doesn't mean I'm stronger, faster, or any better than you or the others. It just means that I've made progress... and I don't intend on stopping now. I'm going to the final match tonight, and my next opponent won't stop me from getting there."

Gigi began to walk away from Tracker afterwards, feeling victorious. Sweet came to Tracker to check on him.

"Tracker, can you continue?" he asked.

Tracker stopped his breathing. "Here's your answer: until I can't move some bone in my body for the rest of tonight, there's no way I'll give up!" he exclaimed, when suddenly his power escalated to a new height. Tracker's Solar Mode (Ascended Legendary) was achieved—it was shown by his now flaming hands and a small circular field of blazing fire on the ground, underneath his feet.

Gigi turned around, wearing a face that was not in the least surprised by Tracker's evolution. It was unchanged. "Be careful what you wish for." she told him, while extending her hand from her side, slightly. She was still calm, even as her power was stable under 10,000 BEANs, which was just the level that Tracker had achieved.

"I know you, Gigi. Unlike me, you never had too many moves. So far, aside from your speed and power, I've only seen 2 or 3 darkness moves in this whole tournament. Doesn't look like you have anymore than that. So now, I can just finish this!" Tracker proclaimed, jumping high into the air and channeling a mass amount of fire and light energy to transform himself into a flaming phoenix. Once he had enough energy, he tried to charge into Gigi while in this state—this charge was called his Burning Sky Attack.

As he was veering closer and closer to her, Gigi was gathering energy of her own, forming it into a compressed, yet focused sphere of energy. "Well apparently, you don't know me that well... not one bit." She revealed what was in the hand she extended.

**[I^I]**

"What in the world?" Fortress exclaimed, shocked.

"Is that what I think it is?" Thunderbolt wondered.

**[O^O]**

Gigi stopped Tracker once again, crashing a high-powered, spiraling energy sphere of both darkness AND water. It was called the Umbriel Rasengan, getting its name from one of Uranus's moons. It is said that the Umbriel Rasengan doesn't reflect a light source, it **eliminates** the source. When this Rasengan wins over a power struggle, a massive and powerful current of ice-cold water swallows the target, powerful enough to crush a few bones. Finally, after the target is hit with the sphere, they are both stunned and blinded—which are special effects of the water and darkness, respectively. In this case, the fires of Tracker's phoenix shroud were extinguished and in the end, he was left on the ground moderately blurred in vision, and unable to move his legs. He also crashed through a few giant boulders on the battlefield.

_"Gigi... you're really surprising me."_ Sweet thought, as he was about to call the match. "Tracker is unable to battle; Gigi advances to the semi-finals!"

_*(The original environment of the Aeroseum was restored. The return to the normal stage took place after Sweet's official decision.)*_

As the crowd roared, Gigi approached Sweet, walking past the defeated Tracker, after taking one last glance at him.

"Monsieur Sweet?" she called him again.

Sweet looked off and sighed. _"At least you don't call me by my full name..."_

"Is something wrong?"

"No, no... what is it?" asked the orangutan, as he and Gigi went backstage.

"I'm thinking about the next matches in this round... or at least, the Titans in them."

"What do you mean?" Sweet wondered.

"Well, for one, there's Fortune. I remember her conversation with Luke earlier. And..." Gigi paused.

"And?"

"After the day I came back from checking on the New 12, me and Luke had a huge fight. He said the most mean and uncalled for things, and he kept mentioning them week by week. He even wanted to take Scaly's route and abandon us. I couldn't stand it anymore, so I threw all his things out of my room and broke up with him. Even now, he'd much rather die than be anywhere near me."

Sweet shook his head. "It really disappoints me that he would make such a choice. Whether you want it or not, Gigi, I definitely think you deserve a second chance—you've really improved, and that counts everything that's not on the battlefield."

"That's his choice. He can beg for me all he wants, he's not getting a second chance from me. Besides, I've already moved on."

"Well, I'm glad you've made a mature choice. All you gotta do is just focus on the here and now, not on the past. It would be completely amazing if you got to the finals tonight." Sweet replied, turning to walk back into the arena, as Tracker was already carried off by Fleece and Mac.

Gigi stopped him once again, lightly tugging his arm. "There's... another thing, Sweet." she uttered.

"Yes?"

"I don't know if I should put myself back on the relationship hunt, if that means getting hurt later on. Also, I don't know who to call my new boyfriend..." Gigi said.

Sweet put his hand on her shoulder. "Well, consider this... sometimes love hurts in ways you couldn't even think about. Believe it or not, I've had a couple of arguments here and there with Fleece. Gigi, it's the way you recover from those fights that matters... and from what I've heard about Luke just now, you shouldn't have too many problems with anyone else." He pauses to smile, to show that he wants the best for her. "One more thing, about your next lucky guy. You should know that the number of men in the Bean Titans outnumber the women by a few bodies. They might not be perfect, but I'm sure you'll find the right one when you see him. If there's nothing else... good luck in the semi-finals to you."

"Thank you, Sweet." Gigi replied with content, hugging him.

This time, the leader returned the hug, before returning to the more important business at hand.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

_MATCH 2: Fortune vs. Roam._

Dotty would now pick a random simulation to surprise everyone. As she was working, the Danger Chamber changed once again. The stands that the crowd stood or sat on now appeared to be suspended high in the air by giant propellers. The audience was surrounding the outer rim of the flat peak of an enormous mountain. Streams of volcanic lava both surrounded the center arena on the peak, and ran down the mountain on its west side. The battle ground wasn't just the arena on the mountain, it was also the atmosphere around it. Unfortunately, it is too bad that one of the combatants is against moving in the air. Dotty ran the Mt. Battle simulation, giving a different edge to this match.

"Titans, throw-down!" Sweet shouted, using a good Flash Step to position himself on top of the press box, which was levitating separate from every other seat in the area.

"Regen." Fortune whispered, casting the White Magic spell that heals her steadily over time.

_"There's that original strategy of hers again. I don't know if Fortune can actually fly, but I have to keep her grounded somehow... maybe, I can use the lava to my advantage. Yeah, I got it."_ Roam thought.

"I would go first since I'm the female, but I'd like to mix things up a bit this time." Fortune boasted.

The buffalo started the match the same way he did last time. "Magnitude!" he shouted, pounding the ground to attack Fortune with visible pulses of earthquakes. This time, he did it repeatedly.

Fortune jumped in time, to avoid them. "Come on, Roam... are we fighting, or jump roping?"

Roam was really watching closely, as he was actually wearing her legs down, to the point where her jumping height deteriorated. He was also waiting on the moment when Fortune would falter on her pre-jump, which she did, as her knee bent a bit too far.

"Gotcha." Roam murmured, making a short jump and pounding the ground with Meteor Crush (power strike, basically) using both of his hands, locked together. A massive Magnitude pulse wave was emitted from this.

Fortune actually managed to find the strength to jump again, barely avoiding the powerful quake while performing a barrel roll in the air. The only thing that went wrong was her landing, as she landed on her side.

"That was close..." Fortune said to herself, having her left hand on the right side of her body.

Roam chuckled. "I don't know about you, but I don't feel like getting burnt. As a matter of fact, I won't be!" he mentioned, getting into a defensive position, crossing his arms.

As Fortune wondered what he meant by that, she saw that the last Magnitude pulse floated off of the circular arena. There were two big streams of lava flowing down one of the ridges surrounding the arena. The pulse wave struck this ridge to not only destroy it, but also fling a huge rain of lava upon the battlefield.

"Aah! Waterga!" Fortune shouted, casting the strong aquatic Black Magic spell she knew against the falling lava drops. The panda was then shrouded by a heavy, yet hot cloud of water vapor. She could not see anything, so she hoped that she stayed where she was, hoping that she was safe from anything.

Suddenly, Fortune felt something take hold of her from the front... and it wasn't more lava.

"And I repeat: Gotcha." Roam claimed, his voice being heard directly in front of Fortune. When the mist faded, it was revealed that Roam had Fortune in a body-lock, restraining her arms as well. Roam was covered in his Armor of the Mantle.

"Ugh! Let me go!" Fortune demanded, squirming.

"Sure... after I do this. Soldering Mantle!"

Roam bounced off of Fortune, right after giving her a "coat" of hardened magma from his Armor of the Mantle. The front side of her body and her arms and legs were now immobilized.

_"Great... well, I guess there's only one thing to do now. Looks like Luke's gonna get to see my last resort."_ Fortune thought, feeling that the need to struggle out of the hardened magma was needless. She only closed her eyes.

**[I^I]**

"It looks like... she's surrendering." Tina guessed.

Mac chuckled.

"What's so funny?" asked Mystic.

"You guys are sounding naive—you jump to conclusions entirely too soon." answered the cardinal.

"Well how are we supposed to have that type of intuition, huh? It's not like you're gonna know what happens next." Hippity pointed out.

"You're right—I can't predict what'll happen. However, you must realize that you can never let your eyes deceive you in the early goings of a battle. What you see may be the end, but you can't determine it for certain... so all you can do is just watch and see what happens. It's not intuition... it's patience."

"Is that all?" Kuku wondered, knowing that Mac had more to say.

Mac shifted his eyes back to the battlefield. "The last time Roam used that move, he mounded Pouch to the ground. That's the only thing different that I see. And now, it looks like Roam is going to take action."

**[O^O]**

Roam fixed his attention back on the trapped panda bear. "Why do you look so calm? Don't you realize that there's nothing you can do right now?" he told her.

"To tell you the truth, you should've put this burden on my back." Fortune replied, still with her eyes closed.

"Oh really? Are you trying to be funny or cliché? Either way, I don't see your point!" he said, starting to charge for her now. He was aiming to hit her with a Skull Bash.

Fortune opened her eyes once Roam started running. "I was being fair, in warning you about a mistake that you made. Now..." she paused, giving a clear indication that she was gaining more power than usual by emitting a white aura. "I think it's better that I show you what I mean!"

_(BGM: "Flame Core (Cavern)" — Sonic the Hedgehog 2006. The song plays throughout with almost no percussion; only resounding cymbals are heard from time to time. The music begins at the guitar solo.)_

Suddenly, a large pillar of white light bursted up from under Fortune, much like her Northswain's Glow ability. It had the effect of the Eight Trigrams Rotation, protecting her from Roam and, in this case, freeing her from the Soldering Mantle. Roam was repelled by the light, being forced several yards away from her. Once he got a chance to look back at the light, he saw six great and lustrous black wings appear from the outer sides of the light. The wings closed and then flapped open once, dispelling the light and finally revealing Fortune, whose black-colored eyes turned a deep crimson. She was also wearing the black wings, now spanning out from her back. The panda was now fighting in her Seraph Mode (Ascended Legendary caliber).

**[I^I]**

"Is that... Angel Mode, like yours, Fleece?" wondered Frisbee.

"Not exactly, now that I understand where Fortune's power truly comes from. We usually are called angels because it's the most familiar and recognized term to use—that's true in itself. But, Fortune has the form of a seraph, which is the most exalted type of angel in the heavens. Having an angel with black wings is very unlikely, but I know the reason why... light cannot exist without darkness existing in its place. Therefore, not an angel—but a seraph of darkness was created, and that same seraph entrusted Fortune with powers that are very well just the same as his or her own. To make a long story short, they're all angels nonetheless, but to have a seraph's wish may be far greater than my own." Fleece explained.

"If that's the case, then what degree of angel are you, Fleece?" Aurora asked.

"I'm not sure. The last thing I heard was that I was the Blessed Angel... I think. I just wish that I could go into that "special place" whenever I wanted; it only seems to happen when it's of dire importance. And there's this voice I hear every time I'm in that place... and only I can hear it."

"ONLY you?" he continued.

"Yeah. Not Fortune, Peace, Princess... not even Halo, which is the most strange; Halo's the only bear that looks like an angel, having a pair of wings and a halo to match. That's what doesn't make sense." the lamb replied.

"What about your step-sister?" questioned Floppity.

"Ewey can hear the voices of the angels, but not this one voice I'm talking about. It's a man's voice, a big and deep one... and it echoes a lot." Fleece described.

**[O^O]**

_"This isn't good... I wanted to keep her out of the air, and now, she has wings. Great. I gotta think of a way to stop her."_ Roam thought. He then pounded the ground once more, for a Magnitude pulse. As soon as his hand hit the ground, he looked back at where Fortune was... to see that she disappeared from her spot. "What the..?" he muttered.

"Radiant Blast." spoke Fortune, whose voice now had a slight reverberation to it. She was directly behind Roam, unaffected by Magnitude. She fired a compact blast of light against his back, knocking him away.

Sweet, who was still on top of the press box, was shocked at Fortune's instant movement. "I couldn't see her movement, and it definitely wasn't Flash Step..." he murmured.

"Before you keep on with fighting me, you should be careful of a couple of things while I'm in this form." Fortune began, while Roam was on all fours trying to get up. "As the Angel of Darkness, I am in allegiance with the Seraph of Darkness, who is watching over the world from the heavens above. That doesn't mean that I gain the ability to use the element of darkness; I'm only immune to darkness. From the seraph, I'm granted the ability to use Shadow Dance—which allows me to instantly place myself wherever a shadow projection is, just like teleportation. Your shadow was easy to get to, Roam."

Roam squinted while he looked down to his shadow. _"Wonderful..."_ he thought pessimistically.

"And if you'll notice, one of my black wings has a white glow tracing it. It was from the light blast I fired, after using Shadow Dance. Now, here's your dilemma: when I get to using Shadow Dance up to six times, regardless of whether my light attack hits you or not, you're gonna realize that 7 is not your lucky number. My seventh light blast will be my most devastating one, and you CAN'T escape it... so if you're gonna find a way to win, you better think fast. Now you know a good reason why my name is Fortune."

Roam growled shortly, knowing that he was in trouble. However, he seemed to have calmed down in a matter of seconds. "I'll let you know now, Fortune... there's no way I'm letting you hit me with that last light blast, so I'll end this match before you get the chance."

Fortune moved ever so suddenly with Shadow Dance twice, and hit Roam with two Holy spells. Half of her six wings now wore the bright white glow. "Like I said, think fast."

Roam chuckled as he got back to his feet, although struggling to do so. "Sorry, but I'd much rather think smart. It's time now... that I stop holding back!"

At that moment, a shell made completely of rock contained Roam, whose power also escalated to new heights. The rock then levitated high in the air and increased its size tenfold, in response to Roam's power.

Fortune could not wait, using her fourth Shadow Dance to put herself in the giant boulder's shadow projection, between the arena floor and the boulder itself. She then fired her Haos Bullet at the rock shell. The fired pod of light was strong enough to penetrate metal. Fortune watched as it traveled through the rock; she expected it to tunnel its way out of the other side. That didn't happen.

_(BGM change: "Storm Center" — Bleach.)_

Instead, the entire rock structure collapsed into several giant boulders, and Roam was revealed behind one of them. His siltstone horns were the first thing that Fortune saw, but they were different from his original short pair. Roam's horns were now long, extending left and right and making two crescent-like curves, with the ends pointing to his now protected head. A smoke emanated from this area—as if Roam seemed to have stopped the Haos Bullet completely with this head. As his face appeared clearly, Fortune could see the fierce, belligerent glare in his eyes. She was staring at his Ascended Legendary form, Gamma Mode.

"I'll only give you one warning, and I advise you heed it well: you get three chances to finish this... before I do. And since you're flying there now... you've just used up your first strike!" Roam told her, as he ordered the boulders to fall toward her.

She tried avoiding by Shadow Dance, but the rocks still rammed her, crumbling upon impact. As she made her descent towards the arena floor, she could still detect Roam's shadow projection. He was now following after her.

Fortune looked at her two non-glowing black wings. _"Three strikes, huh? Two will be enough."_ she figured, repeating the same tactic once again. This time, she warped to his face and struck his chest with her Star Strike—a powerful light-elemental palm attack that can stun her opponent. Her fifth wing grew bright. _"Got him..."_

"What was that?" Roam uttered, causing Fortune to grimace. "I barely felt anything there. Here, THIS is how it's done!" The buffalo then grabbed her and began to force her down towards the Mt. Battle arena floor, aiming to slam her against it.

"Solar Flare!" Fortune shouted, causing intense flashes of light to blind all in attendance. While the flash was on, Fortune felt Roam release her in midair, and heard that he made contact with the arena. She stopped her downward motion by flapping her wings, which were now all glowing. The last wing glowed white when her Regen effect wore off, but the healing effect was replaced by Fortune's passive ability while flapping her wings in Seraph Mode—Angelwind.

Now, she waited until the light faded, so that she could make the final move that she explained before. Fortune's eyes were to the arena, as the light ceased to flash. Her hands were aimed there as well.

_"What...?"_ Fortune thought, dismayed that Roam was nowhere in sight or sense... until she turned her attention to the skies above.

Roam was found 50 feet over her, falling down towards her, head-first. It was almost as if he were a missile, locked-on to strike her with great force. "Three strikes, you're out. Game over!" he claimed.

"Not if I can help it..." Fortune replied, persisting on by charging her final light blast.

Roam closed his eyes for a brief moment, the reopened them. _"That's the thing... you can't."_ he thought.

Immediately after his thought, everyone witnessed the final action of the match. In almost no time at all, Roam's speed all of a sudden increased tremendously. Within the blink of an eye, Roam made contact with Fortune's body, ramming her with his tough head. Fortune was completely shocked, realizing that Roam was moving too fast to dodge, even with her slight psychic ability. Her buildup for her ultimate move was halted, as she was sent crashing through the arena floor with enough impact to make the entire Mt. Battle quake. Roam's attack was called the Titanic Charge.

Watching this match unfold like this, Sweet requested Dotty to restore the Aeroseum as it originally was, as he would call the match depending on Fortune's ability to continue or not. When he was at her side, he found that she could almost not even breathe. Her seraph wings had disappeared from her body.

"Fortune is unable to battle. Roam advances to the semi-finals! Fleece, Fortune made need the Bio-Regen Pod." Sweet announced.

Roam powered down (shown mainly by his horns morphing shorter on his head) and walked off of the battle field. Gigi, who was waiting on the end of the match, caught the buffalo's attention.

"Hey Roam... what was that, just now?" she asked him.

"My Titanic Charge. It's a pretty hard hit, so I reckon you better watch yourself in our semi-finals match." he responded in his country accent, albeit tired.

"I meant your movement. It was something I haven't seen before, not even from Rocket or Hippie."

Roam paused before speaking again. "It's called **Rush Power**—or RP, for short," he began. "To explain how I figured it out, I have to go back to the day I watched in on Dotty's managing of the status boards of the Danger Room, like where she is right now. Using the boards, she can monitor everything that goes on in the stage, as well as what goes on in us Bean Titans. I noticed that there was an "adrenaline" stat, which is determined by how intense our energy was in action in a given moment. Like the other statistics, it was recorded in BEANs, which meant that a small portion of every Titan's power level is altered constantly by our adrenaline level. However, there is a natural limit for it. Dotty said that she usually sees the adrenaline level for some Titans peak at around 600 BEANs. She ran another test simulation and got what she called "foreboding results": 'The adrenaline level cannot exceed 1,000 BEANs, otherwise, you could completely exhaust yourself and lose TOTAL control of your energy and, potentially, be unable to move or pass out for as long as a week.' After that, I found out how to use Rush Power... and found that I could only use it sparingly. To start out, it requires a great amount of energy control, since it will be accelerated when executed correctly. However, the more you use it, the more excruciating it gets. By the third time I tried it out, I saw that my adrenaline was up to 950 BEANs. **_*Gigi gasps*_** Yeah, pretty dangerous up there. It was extremely hard to breathe, so I had to stop right then and there. Nevertheless, it's a powerful technique... and it can be taught."

Gigi had her hands over her mouth. "So it's best saved as a last resort, I understand that. But... why not share this with the Titans, just as precaution?"

"I wouldn't want to cause anyone's life to be in peril. I understand what you said too, but it just becomes a risk when abused." Roam answered.

"That's true..." Gigi murmured.

"If there's nothing else... I'll see you in the next round."

/\/\/\/\/\/\

_MATCH 3: Jake vs. Hippie._

The arena's environment was transformed into a deep forest area. Most of the crowd could not see what was going on in the match, as they were looking from just above the trees. That was the desired effect—the unpredictability coming from what could happen between the two Titans.

"Titans, throw-down!" Sweet commanded.

Upon the leader's words, Hippie immediately dashed into the thick forestry, at the same time that Jake immediately activated his Byakugan and took a defensive stance, searching for the swift bunny.

"A fair warning... whether it's your Empty Palm or your Vortex Palm, don't use them." Hippie told him.

"Why should I listen to that?" Jake replied, still wary.

"Trust me, you wouldn't like the results."

Jake sighed. "I'll give you a warning too... I'll fight this match the way I want to, so if you're trying to bluff right now, you're making a big mistake."

"Heh. Well, considering that it's you I'm fighting now..." Hippie paused, as he revealed himself in the woods to Jake's right, "I guess that talk is cheap!"

The bunny attacked with speedy hits, but Jake would only block the most threatening attacks, if not all of them. Before the duck could retaliate, the bunny dashed off again, and then reappeared within two seconds of time. He repeated his attack.

_"He's planning something..."_ Jake thought, while hovering six feet in the air after his opponent tried to trip him. He saw Hippie coming again, who suddenly disappeared. _"Flash Step—where is he?"_

"Blade of the Nebula!" Hippie shouted from above, when the extension of the blade took hold of Jake. Hippie then retracted the blade, causing Jake to spin seemingly uncontrollably in the air where he was. Once this was done, Hippie went high into the air with his Helio Tornado technique, using the power of the Sword of the Storm. Moments later, he fell towards Jake, still in the pod of wind.

The duck was clever, however, noticing that Hippie was coming closer through what sight he had available to him, thanks to his Byakugan. "Eight Trigrams Rotation!" Jake cried, hoping that either Hippie would hit his defensive field, or if the field would expand far enough to repel the bunny.

Hippie suddenly stopped his spiraling and threw away both of his Shen Gong Wu blades. "Typhoon Boom, Wind!" he called out, clapping his hands together towards the chakra forcefield, propelling him back upward with a large gust of wind. The distance created was large enough to successfully get out of the field's range.

Jake saw that his Rotation did not hit Hippie. "You're not getting away... Eight Trigrams: Vortex Palm!" he said, using his last few spins to launch his massive, spiraling Gentle Fist air strike.

_"Perfect."_ Hippie thought, with a smirk. He pulled out the Crest of the Condor and pointed it towards Jake's incoming attack.

_"He's using that alone, without his Wudai Mode?!"_ Jake wondered.

What happened next was mind-boggling. It wasn't visible, but all of the air force behind Jake's Vortex Palm was somehow absorbed by the Crest of the Condor alone. This was shown when the Shen Gong Wu drastically grew in size.

"I warned ya... Condor's Warcry!" Hippie announced. At this command, the over-sized Crest of the Condor released all of the absorbed wind energy (after enhancing it, of course) in a mighty cyclone that gave out a sort of shrilling noise. The winds were razor sharp, and because of how strong the outburst was, it cut away nearly the ENTIRE forest. There were thousands of tree chunks everywhere—some of which being bigger than others.

**[I^I]**

"Whoa." the five members of Team Z simultaneously uttered.  
**Mina (as an aside): "It's like what my Spiraling Shuriken can do..."**

"Hippie's pulling out all the stops." Spunky said.

**[O^O]**

"Just like that." the bunny said, now floating above the destroyed forest in Wudai Mode. To Hippie, Jake appeared to be buried under the layers of debris, defeated.

"It looks like this match is over, folks. Jake is—" Sweet began to speak, until Hippie suddenly fell to the ground, knocked out of his Wudai Mode. The orangutan looked up to see the duck where Hippie was, with many, however minor, battle scars.

"Still... fighting... sir." Jake said, trying to catch some breath.

**[I^I]**

"Wait... did I miss something?! What just happened?!" Canyon exclaimed.

"Jake turned the match around, that's what." Floppity replied.

"How?" Dep questioned.

"Blindside Blitz—once again, better than my own. That-a boy..." Mac uttered with a satisfied smile and crossed arms. He had a weird way of showing it, but Mac was proud of his son.

Dotty sighed. "I'm bringing us back to reality. This match is just about done anyways." she said, working the controls to restore the original Aeroseum.

"Good patience." Mac complimented the dalmatian.

**[O^O]**

Sweet approached Hippie's body, which was lying face-down on the Danger Chamber floor. At the same time, Jake landed on the floor and began to walk out of the arena, claiming his victory without any words. The duck's Byakugan was inactive as well.

"Hippie, are you able to continue?" Sweet asked him.

The bunny quickly got back on his feet after a short moment. During that moment, he was thinking of where Mooch and Sly were. Of course, the two of them were his closest friends, but being separate from them (i.e., NOT in the New 12) was something that gave him great shame. He would feel even more disappointed if he did not win this tournament. When he got up, he sprinted off again, grabbing his Sword of the Storm and the Blade of the Nebula, before charging for Jake, who had his back turned to the over-determined speed bunny.

"I WON'T LOSE!" Hippie cried, lifting up his blades, aiming to slash Jake's back with a cross slash attack.

The moment of truth occurred. Hippie's hands crossed, but they were frozen over Jake's head. The blades suddenly fell from Hippie's hands, before he too collapsed on the floor. Jake was the cause of Hippie's downfall, as it appeared that he had his arms crossed very tightly. What really happened was that Jake briefly activated his Byakugan again, took a short stride backwards and, with each hand, hit a chakra point located near Hippie's lungs. This gave Hippie limited breathing, which was enough to shut him down in this match.

"Please, for your own good... just stay down. You've lost." Jake told him, as he left the battle zone.

"Well, you heard the duck everyone... Hippie is unable to continue! The victory goes to Jake!" Sweet announced.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

_MATCH 4: Scorch vs. Cheeks._

The setting of the match was set within a few moments. Everyone's eyes feasted upon a vast expanse of plains, with a small number geographic features all over it. Of those features were a high mountain ridge along the much of the outskirts of the plains, a small rest center in the middle of the grassland, and a massive rift towards the north of the plains—which was said to have been caused by the fall of a powerful and foreboding entity. The fourth match's battleground was the Calm Lands.

"All right, Titans... THROW-DOWN!" Sweet exclaimed, acting as referee once again.

Scorch immediately kicked things off with his Meteor Shower ability, calling fireballs to rain down from the sky. As Cheeks would begin to dodge them, the dragon took flight into the air.

Cheeks grimaced as he was still evading. "I gotta get to Scorch somehow... all these fireballs are in the way." he thought aloud. _"Hold the phone..."_ The baboon saw an opening through the Meteor Shower, leading directly to Scorch in the air. _"That's it! All right, just gotta wait for it... NOW!"_

Cheeks then used a speed technique called Lightning Zip—in which he shot a thread of web in a straight line and traveled in that line as a lightning bolt. It was very similar to Felix's Lightning Dash. Cheeks zoomed through the fireballs and found Scorch in the air, two feet away from him.

The dragon was charging a giant fireball from his mouth, but when he saw Cheeks, he turned tail... literally. Scorch swung his tail to smash it against his opponent's body.

Cheeks quickly shot a web to swing on Scorch's tail and avoid his attack at the same time. After swinging, Cheeks followed up with a dive kick to the dragon's back, sending him falling downward.

"Eat this!" Scorch shouted, turning around during his descent to launch his large fireball from his mouth, aimed at Cheeks.

_"Oh crud, he fired it anyway! Damn it!"_ Cheeks thought, quickly putting his hands together to form a triangle. "Tri-Beam, ha!" he shouted, emitting a sudden burst of power to combat the fireball, and eventually destroy it.

"Cheeks is doing very good against Scorch. Keep it up, son." Sweet murmured, as he watched the match from afar.

**[I^I]**

"Man, these fights just keep getting better and better!" Floppity exclaimed.

"Agreed." Fleece said.

"Knowing Scorch, he should've easily gotten the upper hand by now. I'm starting to think he is holding back." Mina said.

"None of us know him better than two people: Pouch and Durango." Thunderbolt began. "Durango told me that Scorch may be an intense fighter, but he will sometimes wait on opportune moments to defeat his opponents more effectively than if he went in full force. Cheeks might find himself in quick trouble in this fight... cause it looks like Scorch is being patient."

"Good observation." Mac spoke.**  
**

**[O^O]**

"Spider Spawn!" shouted Cheeks, who shot a giant spider web right through the smoke that was left from the collision of his Tri-Beam and Scorch's fireball.

Scorch got caught by the web and was planted on the ground, flat on his back. Since Cheeks' webs were electrified, the dragon was feeling the shock from the spider web.

_"Gotcha..."_ Cheeks said, getting ready to seize the match in victory, as he was falling towards his opponent for the win.

_(BGM: "Power to Strive" — Bleach.)_

Suddenly, Scorch gave out a loud and foreboding dragon roar, as if he had gone feral. His power responded, when a fiery aura completely shrouded him and burnt away the spider web... but the flames weren't red. Scorch powered to his Unleashed Mode (Ascended Legendary caliber), where every aspect of his fire powers was shown in a bright blue color. In this state, Scorch's firepower is very well doubled in strength.

"You like trapping me, huh?" Scorch questioned, giving Cheeks a glare when he landed a few feet away from him. The baboon took a few steps backwards, stunned with a bit of fear now. "Well here, I got a better one for you! Hell's Furnace!"

With a huge burst of power, Scorch surrounded the entire perimeter of the Calm Lands with a seemingly endless ring of blue flames. Scorch himself disappeared in the flames, as the entire wall began to slowly close in towards the center of the Calm Lands, leaving Cheeks with just about nowhere to go.

_"Why are they getting closer?"_ Cheeks wondered, watching the wall of fire close in on the area. He tried Lightning Zip to look in the air for a clearing somewhere, but there was no way out. The sky was blocked, the ground was being singed, and the heat was dangerous to experience... there was no escape. He knew couldn't touch Scorch's fire not only because it is powerful, but also because the burns would leave any part of the body useless for the remainder of the match.

Soon enough, the only part of the Calm Lands that was not affected by the Furnace was the Travel Agency, nearby the center of the plains. Cheeks found himself cornered inside the resting area, where the ring of fire seemed to have stopped closing in. Suddenly, Scorch emerged from the large tent, burning it to ashes with an explosive presence.

"I suggest you give up now. You won't win this fight." Scorch told him, as he stepped towards him.

Cheeks, with limited options, found himself taking a desperate measure. "NEVER! Don't think you've won!" he shouted, as he shot when he called his Taser Volley—a group of web lines with small pellets at the ends of them that can impale one's body, before sending electric shocks through the victim. _"Got him."_ Cheeks thought with a smirk, as Scorch's power seemed to have disappeared, along with his Hell's Furnace. The two Titans were once again revealed to the audience and those watching in the press box.

"But I have..." Scorch uttered.

Cheeks heard the dragon's voice coming from behind him and not from where he hit him with the webs. Before he could react, Cheeks was swallowed whole in a giant flame that rose from the ground beneath him. Scorch had lain the trap within the trap—his Hell Gate's Flame. It seemed to be where most of Scorch's power went.

The scenery of the Aeroseum then returned to normal, as Sweet went to check on his son.

"It appears that Cheeks is unable to continue. _Good effort son, I'm proud._ The winner of this match is Scorch!"

The crowd continued to bask in the awesomeness of the action they were witnessing. The Titans in the press box were very impressed as well.

"Stick around folks, because the semi-finals will be starting momentarily!"

**/-/**

The battle standards have been raised to an even higher level! And with four Bean Titans left, which of them will be named leader of their own handpicked team?

Find out and read on!


	7. Young Power

**AN: ****References used [previously]: Teen Titans, Justice League Unlimited, Final Fantasy (VII: Crisis Core, X, & XII), Marvel/X-Men, Pokémon, Kids Next Door, Dragonball Z, Capcom, Naruto, WWE, TNA Impact, Family Guy, Bleach, Code Geass, Sonic Adventure 2, Xiaolin Showdown, and Bakugan Battle Brawlers.  
In this chapter: Super Smash Bros. Brawl.**

Chapter 7 — Young Power

Sweet awaited the arrival of the two Bean Titans who were to begin the semi-final rounds.

**_UNLIMITED Tournament, Semi-finals!_**

_MATCH 1: Gigi vs. Roam._

"All right folks! We're getting down to the wire in this here UNLIMITED Tournament—oh yes, we are at the semi-finals!" Sweet announced proudly, as the audience roared with praise throughout the Aeroseum. "Gigi... Roam... prepare yourselves, because I've asked Dotty to set the stage a bit more "specially" in these two matches."

"What did you tell her?" Gigi wondered.

"Let's just say we're revisiting a place that we, the Legendary 12, did not experience for ourselves. Titans, you'll be throwing down on Dotty's "Terra Nova" simulation—modeled from what was witnessed in Subspace."

"WHAT?" Gigi exclaimed, after hearing the title "Subspace".

Within a few moments, the environment of the Aeroseum rapidly changed realities once again. The Ruins, consisting of a tall rock spire and an expanse of dry land, took place as the battle stage of this match. Roam has been here before, but how will Gigi fare in this environment?

"Titans, throw-down!" Sweet shouted.

_(Background music (BGM): "Challenge" — Final Fantasy X.)_

Roam immediately started things off, assuming that Gigi was off of her guard. He lunged at her, but she avoided his power-packed fists, which made small craters in the ground. Roam chased her all around the outside of the Ruins.

"Do you mind NOT destroying the ground?" Gigi asked of Roam, while distancing herself.

"I told you before, Gigi: watch yourself!" Roam reminded her, before unleashing a powerful Magnitude pulse on the ground.

The poodle used Flash Step to avoid it, after rising her power to the Ultra caliber, two whole degrees below Legendary. She was then found scaling the mountain spire at a high speed, beginning at the halfway point of its total height. When she turned around, she saw many large rocks coming at her—via Roam's geokinesis (earth manipulation).

"Not a good sign..." Gigi murmured, conjuring a Dark Javelin (emulated directly from Luke in his match, but charged faster and more controlled). She threw it at the most central boulder and the blast radius not only shattered the targeted rock, but also pushed away many of the other ones. The remaining rocks did not even come close to hitting her, as she continued her ascension. She soon reached the peak, but as soon as her feet made contact with the ground, she felt them sink into it. Her feet were immobile because of one of Roam's traps that he secretly set.

In the next short moment, Roam's energy was sensed from the sky, and it was huge. He was in his Gamma Mode again, falling down towards Gigi like a meteor.

"I have you now!" Roam shouted, increasing his speed via Rush Power to attack with his Titanic Charge.

Gigi, luckily, anticipated that he would use a tactic like this. The plan that she had in mind to counter his, would very well end the match.

"Aphotic Illusion!" uttered Gigi loudly. Upon her words, a pillar made up of a dark purple (almost black) gaseous substance immediately rose from beneath her body and towered to the skies above, blocking all light. Five other pillars were present also, surrounding the Ruins. Gigi was on Sacred Power now.

And then came Roam's impact. Half of the entire mountain spire of the Ruins was broken away and the base of the mountain sunk several meters into the ground. The power on Roam's physical attribute was staggering.

**[I^I]**

"Good lord..." Fleece murmured at the sight of the destruction of the mountain spire**.**

"Did Ewey ever teach Roam how to chill while they were dating a few years ago? I mean, sheesh... that power of his is going overboard!" Canyon wondered.

"Whatever the case is, Gigi still saved herself with that technique." Mac began. "And I believe that Team Z knows that very well, am I right?"

"Yep..." uttered the Oracle Twins (Mina and Tina).**  
**

**[O^O]**

_"I knew it..."_ Gigi thought, hiding in the cover of one of the pillars of darkness. She was carefully watching Roam's course of action. She remembered from his match against Fortune**—**in order to assume his Gamma Mode, a gigantic boulder must be created along with his boost of power. Then it disperses into several big boulders. Since she did not see them fall down from the sky after Roam, Gigi presumed that they were still falling, which meant that the time to act was now.

She secretly sent a bright purple pellet of energy high into the air, up through the dark pillar. Once it was high enough in the atmosphere, Gigi called off all of the pillars of darkness.

"There you are!" Roam yelled, thrusting his hands towards her. He was working his geokinesis on the big boulders that were still high in the air, calling them to rain down on her.

_"You're finished."_ Gigi presumed confidently. She then called out "Shadow Sky", closing her eyes as she rose to her Legendary strength.

_(BGM change: "Super Saiyan Vegeta" — Dragonball Z.)_

The sky suddenly turned darker, startling Roam, who looked up while still focusing his attack. At that moment, an unlimited amount of bright purple "drops" of light began to rain down from the sky. Roam was in no position to dodge the rain, which inflicted miniscule damage on him, but also penetrated his defense increasingly. But that was not all of Gigi's plan. The dark rain also filled in the craters that Roam made at the start of the match, all around the Ruins.

"What's all this?" Roam questioned openly.

"Your loss." Gigi answered, opening her eyes while floating a few feet into the air now. She had her hands in a similar fashion as Cheeks, while he was preparing his Tri-Beam—only her palms were completely seen and not closed in. "Darkness Style: Midnight Wolf Pack Jutsu."

Using a great amount of focused energy, Gigi extracted the darkness from the "puddles" filling in the craters by Shadow Sky and manipulating it all, creating dark purple silhouettes of wolves that all had auras of darkness oozing out of them. They were loyal to their master, Gigi, acting through her thoughts. For example: as Roam's rocks came falling down, some of the wolves protected Gigi from them, ramming into the rocks and inducing a kamikaze effect—self-destructing with great force upon impact and destroying the rocks completely. The rest of the wolves proceeded to attack Roam, running through the air and up the mountain.

Roam saw what was happening to the rocks and needed to get rid of all the wolves. "Rock Avalanche!" he shouted, pounding the flat top of the mountain and causing a large amount of giant rocks to swarm down on the wolves.

A moment later, it seemed that none of the wolves reached him.

"Glad that's over..." Roam murmured with relief.

"You spoke too soon." Gigi said, using Flash Step to appear near the flat peak that Roam was standing on, still in the air. She was charging dark energy into her hand, as if she was about to fire a Shadow Ball. She had it aimed towards him.

"Oh no, you don't! Armor of the Mantle!" the buffalo uttered, calling his protective armor to defend against Gigi. It also made him unable to move from that spot.

"Honestly Roam... it's not me you should be worried about." the poodle started to say, before turning around. Roam gave a suspicious look. "Every pack has an alpha."

Upon mentioning that, a larger shadow wolf zoomed down from the sky, intent on dominating Roam, who noticed its foreboding presence.

"No worries—I'm immovable!" Roam boasted, confident that he would not be hurt in the least.

"But not invincible." Gigi replied. "You should know something else. Shadow Sky completely ignores defense, which makes up for its tiny power. All of that rain was slowly eating away at any defenses you had, meaning your tough skin isn't so tough and your Armor of the Mantle is completely useless now. And the alpha wolf? Well... let's just say I shouldn't be this close to you."

Gigi warped away, and that spelled bad news for Roam.

"Ah, this won't end well.." he said.

_(The music halts.)_

The alpha wolf collided with Roam and created a huge explosion on contact, big enough to wipe out almost the remainder of the Ruins' mountain spire. And surely enough, Roam took on the full heat of the attack.

Moments later, Sweet went to check on the outcome. Roam was out of his Gamma Mode and could not move a muscle. The original environment of the Aeroseum was restored.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Roam is unable to continue... oh my, Gigi has advanced to the finals! This is quite a day!" Sweet announced.

The crowd roared with cheers and applause, directed towards Gigi, who was at the bottom of the pack and swiftly made her way to the top faster than anyone ever had.

Gigi let out a sigh of relief, a little exhausted from the focus she had to sustain through her battle plan.

"How are you feeling, Gigi?" Sweet asked.

"I feel like I'm ready for anything! I've already proven that I can make it out of the first match as the winner, and things have only gone up from there. This breakthrough won't stop here, I promise you!" she answered.

"There you have it, folks! Great going, Gigi—best of luck to you. All right then, we'll be back for the second match soon, so hold on to your seats—there's still more to come!"

/\/\/\/\/\/\

_MATCH 2: Jake vs. Scorch._

"Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen! This second match, needless to say, will be quite interesting, considering the two Bean Titans in it. However, this match will be different from all of the others because it's going to take place in unsafe conditions. Don't worry, these conditions are meant for the fighters, not anyone else. You will still feel and experience the action as if you were on a roller coaster, while at the same time watching a 3D movie_._ In other words, everyone but Scorch and Jake will be completely safe. As far as the stage is concerned, many of you may want to consider watching the action from your personal HD monitors. Brace yourselves everyone, because I hope you're ready for a meteor shower_—_up close and personal. Titans, throw-down!" Sweet announced, ever so confidently.

Just when Sweet mentioned the word "meteor", Dotty quickly changed the stage and set the virtual environment of the match. After Sweet said "throw-down", he pointed up before disappearing with the help of Mac's teleportation. It was not just his signal for the start of the match; he was really pointing to a gigantic meteor falling down from the sky, and it looked like it was going to crash upon the active combatants.

Without a word, Jake warped away from the meteor's path, utilizing his father's teleportation powers.

"This oughta be fun." Scorch said, flapping his wings and flying backwards, just avoiding the falling meteor, before it crashed on the ground.

At that moment, the rest of the stage revealed itself to everyone. It was the image of the Meteor Herd stage (Sonic Adventure 2). It is almost as it appears in the actual game. The base of the stage seemed to be on the face of a fractured asteroid. Upon the dirt ground stood beacons, steel structures and large meteorites and boxes. In the center of this base was a steel tower with no roof, but has a shutter on the bottom of its interior, concealing the pit of lava below. There were also numerous platforms and containment structures that appeared to be floating by the smallest amount of gravity whatsoever. Lastly, high above the stage is actually the moon taken over by the Space Colony ARK, but the base of the stage is so close it, that one can only see some of the inverted buildings extending out from the Colony. One of those buildings is very close to the base of the stage and can be stood upon.

**[I^I]**

"Something feels different about this match..." Mystic sensed, looking upon both Jake and Scorch.

"What do you mean?" Sweet asked, watching from on top of the press box, while the audience was cheering for the action that was about to begin.

"It's not what I'm taking in by looking at Scorch... it's Jake. By what I'm sensing, if it's right, there is no fear or intimidation in Jake's mind as he looks at Scorch. It's... uncanny."

Many of the Titans in the press box noticed as well.

"You're right. Nearly anyone who has even caught a glimpse of Scorch's eyes feels small and weak compared to him, as far as today goes. But Jake seems to be about on the same level, displaying only confidence in front of Scorch... it's almost as if he's fearless." Dotty spoke.

"That's because he is." Mac stated.

"What? There's just no way...!" Thunderbolt exclaimed.

"Seriously, I'd be scared half to death if I had to fight someone as big and tough as Scorch." Tina stated.

_(Background music: "Nube Negra (Black Cloud)"_ _— Bleach.)_

"I suppose I should explain." Mac began. "First, I'll say this... I'm not very much of a fatherly figure, as I keep my words soft and sweet, and sometimes quick and painless. But, as a Legendary 12 member, one of my duties was to promote the youth in any way possible. Like a father would do, he would "promote" his children_—_and that's what I did. As you know, Lucy is the only Bean Titan that is able to use both the light and dark elements at her disposal_—_the darkness element came from Kuku, and the light element was passed down from me. However, Kuku and I made a deal to ourselves, not too long after we got married. We said that if we had a daughter, she would be primarily Kuku's responsibility; and if we had a son, I would take him under my wing. As I watched Jake grow up, I began to look back at the way I grew up. I know that I felt unfortunate, unwanted, and unloved, covering it all up with coldness... but on the side of everything, I also feared of what I was capable of doing to people. I could only imagine: I killed three men with something an infant should never be allowed to play with, and with my teleportation, it's frightening to think about all the other ways I could easily harm or dispose of someone. Because of that, I've had a reluctance to people because I wanted to avoid using fatal force without my own intention. I told Jake this same story, so he could learn one thing: the only thing you have to fear is your own power. I told him, "He who doesn't fear his own power, has no right to have that power at all. When you are able to respect and fear your power at will and without question... then the fear of battle, even against a mighty opponent, will not exist." That is what Jake has internalized in his mind at this very moment. As intimidating as Scorch can be, Jake isn't phased... not even in the least. He only fears himself, and what he is capable of doing."

Some of the Titans were left speechless.

"To be able to tolerate that much discipline at such a young age... it's unbelievable." Dotty stated, awestruck.

"I don't think any other Bean Titan would be able to even consider, let alone sustain, that mindset." Hippity generalized.

"Now you know why I say his abilities and personal qualities are even greater than my own... because it's true. Jake knows what I expect of him. _And through it all, he inspires me because he's grown to be the very epitome of what I've wanted to be my whole life._"

Mystic heard Mac's thought, and experienced a slight violation of the Psychic's Code, feeling as if someone thumped her head about ten times. She cried out in pain.

"Mystic! Are you okay?" Aurora asked, concerned about his wife.

"Yeah, I've just been using my head too much lately." the unicorn replied. Despite the pain, Mystic knew right then and there that Mac had compassion in his heart_—_which all came mostly from his family.

**[O^O]**

Jake wasted no time in giving Scorch space to plan out his victory drive, so he teleported to the dragon and began a burst-speed combat session with him, emulating Dragonball Z's type of high-speed fighting. Jake managed to get many hits in, and finished by sending Scorch crashing into one of the "stations" on Meteor Herd's base. A cloud of debris covered Scorch's position.

_"I know that wasn't enough to wear Scorch down a lot... and I might have to get serious soon." _Jake thought.

As everyone looked on, a meteor came down to where Scorch crashed... but somehow, it remained intact. When the cloud vanished, Scorch was seen holding the meteor in place with one hand, while looking directly at his opponent with a menacing glare. Scorch was also heating the meteor with his hand, setting it ablaze.

"Catch!" Scorch shouted, tossing the meteor at Jake, who was still in the air.

Jake made his third warp in the match, appearing just behind the zooming rocky ball of flame. To his surprise, the next thing the duck saw was a small flame, moving half as fast as the meteor Scorch threw at him. It was Scorch's Ember of Vengeance, and Jake immediately acted upon the sight of it.

"Water Gun!" Jake announced, firing a thin stream of water at the small flame in an effort to extinguish it.

_(The music halts.)_

Scorch gave out a small chuckle, as he then took flight using his wings. "How many times do I have to say this? You **CAN'T** get rid of my Ember of Vengeance_—_not even if you use water, or ice, for that matter." he explained.

It was true. Not even a good spurt of water could douse the floating flame, as it continued its way towards Jake. It would not stop until it made contact with Scorch's intended target.

"Darn it...!" Jake muttered softly. Seeing as there was nothing he could do, Jake braced for impact... which did not occur, strangely. As the duck held his eyes shut, he only felt the slight heat from the Ember of Vengeance come and pass behind him, without making an abrupt explosion like it usually would. Jake was left confused, because he thought that Scorch always used the Ember to attack his opponents. He let down his guard to search it, but got a big surprise as he turned around.

"Big mistake." Scorch said, being heard from behind Jake. As he said those two words, Scorch whipped his heavy-hitting tail around and made it collide with Jake's body, forcing the duck to plummet down towards Meteor Herd's base.

Jake saw that his head was about to be the first thing to hit the ground. To soften his fall, he was able to get his right arm to extend and use a strong Eight Trigrams (ET): Empty Palm to offset the downward descent and fall at an angle. When he hit the ground, he rolled several feet, landing first on his side. While he was on the ground after rolling, he sensed Scorch's Legendary power rising_—_which meant that the easier part of the fight was over; it was time to get serious because Scorch was not going to hold back. Jake managed to get back on his feet and set his eyes back on Scorch, in the air.

Even while all of this action was going on, the Watcher cameras were still on high alert, focusing on both combatants in the large stage.

_(BGM change: "Sirius (1)" __—_ Bomberman 64.)

"Here we go... Byakugan!" Jake uttered, shifting his total combat ability by the change in his eyes.

"There's something you should know, Jake..." Scorch began.

"What is it?" he replied.

"If there is fire encompassing a solid source, I have the power to control that source as I please. So I say this as a warning to you: what goes up, must come down."

Scorch then moved his wings so that they were pointing to the cosmos above him. The wings then began to burn in a blaze, and in response, the same flaming meteor that Scorch threw into the air came down towards his position.

_"What the hell?"_ Jake wondered, watching intently as the meteor fell closer and closer to Scorch.

"As for the Ember of Vengeance, I can target that to whoever and whatever I want. I'll give you one guess at where I sent it." Scorch said, a few seconds before the Ember made contact with the flaming meteor.

The meteor exploded and shattered into hundreds of pieces. Since all of these pieces were on fire, Scorch still had control of them. While exerting this control, he added his own Meteor Shower ability to the mix, before sending it all down on Jake. It was Scorch's Grand Meteor Shower, and there was almost no escape_; _the space it took up from the sky was big enough to cover the entire base of the Meteor Herd stage. Not to mention, but the meteors already falling down towards the base was in the mix as well.

_"My Rotation won't be enough to protect me from this move of his. Well then... I guess I gotta bust out those new techniques____ about now—_and I think ALL of them will help me against Scorch." Jake thought, preparing to use the first of his new, unseen abilities.

First, he quickly motioned his hand over his head, while using a small amount of his chakra in his palm to place what he called his Protective Arc over his body_—_it was a thin line of energy acting as a sort of small barrier. After that, he slammed his hands together and put them very close to the "vertex" of the Arc. He then delivered accelerated and focused energy into his hands only_—_the same use of energy as if he were using the Rotation.

"What's this...?" Scorch wondered, as he looked at his opponent through the meteor shower.

"Eight Trigrams: Drill Drive!" Jake shouted, suddenly leaping from the ground into the air towards Scorch, literally piercing his way through every flaming meteor in his path.

"What in blazes?" Scorch exclaimed, seeing Jake almost ignoring the Grand Meteor Shower and coming closer to him. He could not believe that Jake was still using countermeasures with what seems like the greatest of ease.

There was a drawback, however, to Jake's technique. Since his hands are not very well protected_, _even with both the focused chakra and the Protective Arc, his Gentle Fist techniques will be suspended for 3 minutes because his hands will have been exhausted from the Drill Drive. This will mean that he will only have the Byakugan, his teleportation, and water powers to aid him against Scorch_—_as well as the few other common Bean Titan abilities (like Flash Step).

Nevertheless, the duck manages to come within 30 feet of Scorch.

"Oh no you don't... take this!" Scorch uttered, launching a large fireball from his mouth.

By using another fire-based move, Scorch has called off his Meteor Shower. Fortunately for him though, his fireball was powerful enough to break through Jake's guard and inflict a decent amount of damage to him as well. Jake began to fall down from the air.

_"Almost had him..."_ Jake thought.

Scorch's opportunity to end the match came. "All righty then. Here, have another..." he said, charging an even larger fireball and firing it at his opponent, hoping to end the match.

Jake felt the heat from the fireball drawing closer to him, and that was all he needed to know. His next new trick immediately took place when it seemed like he was hit by the fireball.

Scorch saw the impact, but Jake's energy was somehow detected right above his location. _"Impossible..."_ Scorch thought, turning around to be hit by Jake's signature water blast, High Tide.

The after-image left behind by Jake was a trick called Suicide Feint, where Jake used a clone, an after-image technique, and a warp all at the same time as a decoy. The decoy was given its title role when it appeared to everyone that it was giving up the match to Scorch.

The dragon continued his downward descent, being pressured from Jake's High Tide to fall into the lava pit that was at the bottom of the steel tower on the base of Meteor Herd. Scorch did not emerge from the pit for a good minute. Still, Jake kept his eyes peeled.

Sweet, after waiting patiently, slowly made his way onto the battleground to call the match. However, he was not patient enough, as he felt the base tremble in response to a rise in Scorch's power.

_(BGM change: "Last Battle Versus Rival" __—_ Pokémon (anime).)

A Watcher camera positioned itself so that it was looking down the steel tower from overhead, at the lava pit, which slowly turned a heavy, bright blue color. Upon sight of that, all Bean Titans watching (including Jake) knew what that meant... Scorch was just about through playing around. Sweet quickly returned to his place near the press box, just before the lava beneath the steel structure ragingly ejected into the air.

Jake took refuge upon one of the floating platforms above the base, to avoid the eruption. As he looked on, Scorch finally revealed himself from within the rising lava, stopping its rage simply by flapping his now burning blue wings. The lava rested on the entire dirt surface of Meteor Herd's base. Scorch ascended to his Unleashed Mode once again, for the second time in this tournament... and from the look on the dragon's face, he was ready to unleash hell.

"Give up now Jake, you won't last." said Scorch, shifting his eyes left to right, trying to sense where Jake was above him.

The young duck was suppressing as much of his power as he could, so that his fierce opponent could not detect him. "Scorch, you know I can't do that_—_I want this opportunity just as much as you do. So just like Gigi, and everyone else who fought tonight, I'm bringing my best."

"Hmm, indeed you are. You take after your father quite well, considering how focused he is when he fights. I just hope that you hope it's enough to beat me. So now that we're just about done talking..." Scorch paused, to blow out a huge flammable smokescreen from his mouth, rushing out and covering almost all of the suspended platforms between the steel tower at the base and the inverted tower high above. This would eventually lead to the Pyroscreen that Scorch used to vanquish Korgon, of the Acolytes—except that there was now at least fifty times more smoke. All he needed now was a simple source of fire.

Jake looked around and saw the black smoke gradually clouding his sight more and more. He knew what was coming next... so he looked for the red light at the "bottom" of the inverted tower and teleported there, and not a second too soon either. The next moment was defined by the entire smokescreen being set ablaze by a large blue flame, courtesy of Scorch. The sudden fire incinerated almost every platform between the base of Meteor Herd and the red light of the inverted tower.

_"Wow... I'm not even 30 feet from the edge of the fire and it's scorching. Ironic to think that, but this isn't the time for a laugh."_ thought Jake.

As the duck kept looking down, he winced in response to the new location of Scorch's power. The dragon quickly appeared to Jake's right, charging a massive blue fireball from his mouth. Scorch was locked-on to his target, who had almost no time to react.

Another large and fiery explosion followed_—_flaming comets spurted out after colliding with the inverted ceiling of the tower.

**[I^I]**

"My goodness... it won't be long before Jake becomes roasted duck. I'm feeling the heat just by looking at this all go down!" exclaimed Aurora.

"I wonder how Sweet is reacting to this battle specifically... he seems awfully quiet up there." Floppity stated.

"He's simply analyzing the course of the match, and paying close attention to how the fighters are adapting to every action out there." Mac began to say. "Remember what he said before in the transition earlier: he was impressed with everyone in this tournament. We should be modeling him."

Mystic sighed, almost half-tired of hearing Mac drone on. "And as usual, Mac is right..."

"Heck, I don't blame Sweet for keeping his thoughts to himself up there." Hippity started. "Yeah Mac, he really has a sharp eye on this matchup... and adding onto that, you have two of the best fighters going at it. Except for Team Z here, we've all known Scorch since high school and he was always a tough guy when he's serious_—_and that's putting it softly, hehe. Then you have Jake, who we already know as one of the best young Bean Titans when it comes to combat, and he's pretty sharp too. And the way you said that he's fearless towards everyone else's power but his own... it shows, and that makes him all the more a force to be reckoned with."

"At this point, the only Titans that really have a chance to contend against Scorch are Jake and Gigi." Dotty summarized for everyone inside the press box.

Sitting on top of the press box still, Sweet was watching intently at the falling flaming comets. _"Amazing..."_ was the only word he could think of, looking into one of the comets in particular.

**[O^O]  
**

The comet that Sweet was looking at was where he knew that Jake was, caught in the fire of it. What was "amazing" was that Jake endured the sudden onslaught of Scorch's fireball by managing to prompt his Eight Trigrams Rotation enough to protect him from the bulk of the direct attack. He still took on major damage, however.

_"This is just brutal... I really thought I was finished back there."_ Jake thought, as the comet's fire was disappearing during the descent from the inverted tower. He was writhing in pain quite a bit, from the intensity of the dragon's attack._ "It was by pure luck and chance that my Rotation started up. ***sigh*** So now... I need to finish this."_

"I warned you before I unleashed my fury Jake. Your time is about up now." Scorch murmured, still flying under the inverted tower's red roof. "I told everyone that this tournament is something I cannot take lightly. It's because I wanted to push everyone's limits. No matter who I'm up against, I'm giving it 300%... and if that's too much, then you won't be able to stand up to me. At this point, if you take on one more good blast from me, it's over for you. As a matter of fact, since I saw that Rotation come up again, I'll just finish you now with a certain move that's so strong that even that barrier of yours can't protect you from."

The dragon was preparing his signature fire blast: Blue Star Inferno. At the sight of blue fire gathering into a sphere, Jake and everyone else watching saw that the end was near.

_"I think it's time... for my last resort. I wanted to save it for the finals, but Scorch is just too tough. It might not help me completely, but at this point, I have to at least try. Here it goes."_ Jake mentally planned, while gaining enough strength to stop his downward drop and then teleport to a space several yards above the steel tower at Meteor Herd's base. He then exhibited a strange aqua green aura with his chakra, which was a symbol of his power getting stronger. As he was focusing his energy, a symbol—showing two green diamond-shaped markings crossing like an "X"—appeared on the center of his forehead. The Titans in the press box were surprised at this, even Mac, as they have never seen this from Jake before. This new form was his Ascended Legendary state—Divine Mode.

Scorch noticed his power rise, as he was charging more and more into his fiery sphere. "So you DID have more power in you... still, it doesn't matter if you use Rotation again. My Blue Star Inferno burns anyone within 10 feet of its reach—in other words, unless you have a very strong move or a very great Flash Step, there's no way you're avoiding this!" Scorch exclaimed, finally firing his fearsome flash of fire, in an intense beam of energy that was the size of a juiced-up Kamehameha Wave. Within seconds, it was halfway between the two combatants.

_(BGM change: "Pleasures of Combat" — Bleach.)_

Without a word, Jake assumed one of his Eight Trigrams positions and then used the technique that he used during his time in Subspace—the Eight Trigrams Time Warp. In this enhanced teleportation technique, a normal second of time turns into nearly 10 seconds and Jake can use the field of the Eight Trigrams to instantly place himself wherever he pleases. In Divine Mode, the flat field of the Trigrams turns into an exceedingly large "dome", extending to heights even further than where Scorch was currently positioned. Using this Time Warp, Jake put himself behind Scorch which was the only place the Blue Star Inferno could not burn him. With ample time left in the Warp, the duck focused some of the aqua green chakra into his hands and then assumed a familiar combat position before saying his next words. The slowing effect of Time Warp wore off at this point, and Scorch had no time to react to Jake's ambush.

"Blindside Eight Trigrams 2 Palms... 4 Palms... 8 Palms... 16 Palms... 32 Palms... 64 Palms... 128 Palms!" Jake shouted, beginning his assault on the dragon with a new version of this attack. Before every stage (on 2, 4, 8, 16, etc.), Jake strikes with an Empty Palm to push Scorch away by sudden force, then resume the combo by teleporting to a predetermined point where Scorch was sent to and using the classic Gentle Fist strike(s) to continue until the next Empty Palm, in an alternating fashion. Not only did this limit Scorch's energy generation, but also scrambled and stunned his physical activity, making him practically immobile in the air.

_"Ugh...! Can't move! How is Jake doing this?"_ Scorch thought, shocked that the tables have turned so quickly. The dragon was very much helpless, as even his wings were struck from the attacks.

"You're finished! Eight Trigrams... Force Sphere Rotation!" Jake shouted, as he zoomed down towards Scorch, spinning to charge his Rotation. This final charge of Jake's was the last of his new techniques, and he believed that it would finish Scorch. This Rotation was an all-out offense over defense, as the barrier of chakra heavily forced against Scorch's body, eventually taking him inside of it during the descent towards Meteor Herd's base. The chakra field exerted much more pressure on the inside, greatly having an impact on Scorch. Jake warped out of the sphere before it crashed on the ground, where the pressure would be the most intense. As he feared his own power, Jake bore not to look at the crash, nor the chakra bursting out in a rage as a result of the crash.

The audience was utterly in awe at the latter stretch of the match. As Sweet made his way down to call the match, everyone knew that anything could have happened.

"Dotty, can you give me a read on what the status boards say?" Sweet asked openly.

The dalmatian turned the mic on so everyone could hear her and everyone else in the press box. "Jake stamina levels are at 10%... but after his attack, Scorch's levels went from 80% to 3%... **FAST**. This new form of Jake's also tripled the effectiveness and overall power of not only his Gentle Fist and Eight Trigrams skills, but his Byakugan as well." Dotty reported.

As she was talking, the dust cleared from where Scorch was, revealing the motionless dragon on his back. He had great difficulty breathing after Jake's onslaught.

_"That's scary..."_ Sweet said to himself, thinking of the statistics and how they played out in the last moments of the battle. He then approached Scorch. "How are you feeling? Can you go on and continue fighting?"

Scorch spoke with large spacing between some of his words. "How did he... do it?" he began. "Everything Dotty said... it's true. My strength... it's fading... even as I talk. He's beaten me. I... can't continue."

"It's all okay friend, you did a fantastic job." Sweet replied, taking his hand for a second, before going over to raise Jake's wing in victory. "Well, you heard the dragon folks... Jake has won! He advances to face Gigi, in the final match! We will need 10 minutes to get both Jake and Gigi fully ready for their match, so stay put, everyone. Dotty, take us away!"

After that announcement, Dotty restored the original battle grounds.

Jake quickly teleported out of the battle zone, before succumbing to his own exhaustion. It was the first time he had risen to Divine Mode outside of his discovery of it in his own private training. He does not have it under control, as he cannot do anything about its costs. After powering down from his Ascended Legendary state, Jake cannot reach that caliber of power again for the rest of the day, and is in a state of "debilitation": where his Byakugan, Gentle Fist, and Eight Trigrams skills are all reduced by half in overall strength and effectiveness. Despite this, he is still confident he can still defeat the newly reformed black poodle.

**/-/**_  
_

Longest chapter I have had to edit before posting it... with regards to the time put into it. I will work on updating regularly in the future.

Nevertheless, the final match will play out, next chapter!


	8. Victorious

**AN: References used [previously]: Teen Titans, Justice League Unlimited, Final Fantasy (VII: Crisis Core, X, & XII), Marvel/X-Men, Pokémon, Kids Next Door, Dragonball Z, Capcom, Naruto, WWE, TNA Impact, Family Guy, Bleach, Code Geass, Sonic Adventure 2, Xiaolin Showdown, Bakugan Battle Brawlers, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl.  
In this chapter: One Piece.**

Chapter 8 — Victorious

After moments of waiting and recuperation, the time had finally arrived. The final match was to begin, as soon as both combatants made it into the Danger Chamber arena. Everyone watching was overridden with excitement, enjoying every moment of the night from the very beginning.

"It is time folks..." began Sweet, standing in the middle of the Aeroseum, "16 of our top-notch Bean Titans have fought courageously, if not at their very best... and now only 2 remain! There can only be one winner, as that Titan will have the honor of taking on the role of a captain and lead a team of their choosing in the Titans League—much like myself with the Legendary 12, my son Mooch with the New 12, Durango of Team Z, and Lucky of Titans X."

The crowd roared with cheers and applause. As these sounds were being heard, Sweet took a moment to think.

"Allow me to be serious for a moment, everyone." the orangutan started to say, as the audience's noise level lowered. "The reason as to why we are doing this isn't just for entertainment purposes, ladies and gentlemen. It's because the Legendary 12 and I believe that many of the Titans have been overlooked, and that most of the time, we have sent only the official units or teams I listed before on nearly every call to action. However, if we just grant those opportunities for those Titans that are not officially on a selected team, then the Bean Titans will be that much stronger and all the more better for the greater good."

Sweet pauses, as there is some applause heard. He then continues, shortly after.

"If you haven't noticed in times past, our world has been under attack on many occasions... some were small and did not pose very much of a threat, but others escalated into things much worse and put thousands to millions of lives in danger. The last time we have had such an encounter, I can tell you... if the Titans were not there at the time, then Earth itself would have ceased to exist."

Another pause, this time with more silence, after Sweet had spoken of the encounter with Bahamut Fury a few days ago.

"I hope that everyone here and everyone watching can understand what is going on now. This takes more than having just an army, means more than having a government, even more so than being internationally renowned and trusted... as heroes, the Titans League lives and fights to protect the world, the people we love living in it, all the foundations of justice, and the happiness that makes life worth living! And personally I am **damn** proud to have the chance to live life like this."

During the last few sentences of his speech, every beating heart in the entire Aeroseum had been filled with a tsunami of heroic spirit, shouting out in reverence with a volume that has yet to have been heard in the stadium the whole night. Chants of "USA!" began to start up, until moments after, when it quickly changed to chants of "Earth!".

With that chant still going, the finalists walked into the arena, fully revitalized and ready to face each other.

"Thank you everyone for your patience!" Sweet said. "Now, our finalists are here: to my left is **Gigi**, who has fought through the always speedy blue jay, Rocket; the street smart martial artist hound dog, Tracker; and the tough-skinned buffalo, Roam... and to my right stands young **Jake**, making his way here past our young, yet fierce chipmunk contender, Chipper; the speedster Xiaolin Rabbit of Wind, Hippie; and the overly powerful and intimidating dragon, Scorch! As Dotty works her magic with our final stage of the night from the press box, I would like to hear some pre-battle words for both of the Titans here. Jake, any thoughts before you go head-to-head with Gigi?"

A Watcher camera floats by and focuses in on the duck, miking him up at the same time.

"Gigi, as you know, I'm kind of a realist." Jake started out, keeping eye contact with the black poodle. "I tend to bring out and make opinions about everything I see. As of right now, I won't deny the fact that you fought your way to this point in this tourney nor will I say that you haven't earned it. The only thing I want you to consider is my experiences tonight with who I have fought through to get here, compared to your own. While you have quickly turned the tables on your opponents with certain confidence, each one of my opponents brought something I was not expecting: Chipper's new Byakugan eye combined with her already tricky Sharingan, the sudden attack from Hippie's Crest of the Condor that wiped away just about the entire forest we were fighting in, and Scorch... his power speaks for itself and I had to make tough adjustments. You could say I'm not 100% right now, but I sure as hell am going to give nothing short of my best. So prepare yourself."

Sweet signaled the Watcher camera to slowly turn its way to Gigi. "Wow," he spoke, "Jake means business, folks. And now, Gigi... do you have anything to say?"

The poodle was audible via the Watcher camera's mic. "Jake, I mean business too. I've come this far, so why should I relax now? I understand what you said though, and I don't think ill of you being here as well. You know... coming into this tournament, I was originally focused on one thing—winning that first match. It wasn't just a goal of mine; it was also a challenge from Monsieur Sweet before he gave me a spot here. But since winning that fight, I felt something change inside of me. Yes, I accomplished my goal, but my heart was telling me that there was something much more that I needed to do. For me, this tournament is not about winning it or becoming a new captain... it's about proving myself—and turning my doubters into believers. This is who I am now. I'm a Bean Titan, and I am strong in my own way."

Moved by the words spoken, Sweet asks Dotty if the stage is ready to be set. After her confirmation, he turns his attention back to the young Titans.

"All right folks. Gigi, Jake... for the last time tonight—Titans, throw-down!"

**_UNLIMITED Tournament, the Finals!_**

_FINAL MATCH: Gigi vs. Jake._

As the battlefield was gradually appearing to everyone's eyes, Gigi and Jake began to circle each other.

"Your move." Gigi spoke first, ready to take on whatever the duck had to deliver.

"Ladies first..." Jake replied, trying to solidify his focus on her.

_(Background music (BGM): "Force Your Way" — Final Fantasy VIII (Black Mages Version).)_

A few seconds later, the virtual stage was finally set and visible to all. Jake and Gigi were standing on a stone bridge, connecting a mostly woodland area (behind Jake) to a palpably big town (behind Gigi), which was established upon a large mesa and backed by a couple of mountains in the background. The town itself was a hill decorated with some trees and numerous, yet similar-looking buildings, some larger and taller than others. The tallest one of them all was a cream colored, twin-spire monument, standing at the top of the town's hill. The lower halves of the twin towers' outer walls looked like the pipes of a pipe organ. No one knew of the monument's significance, not even Dotty herself—they just saw it as the eye-catcher in this virtual world that Dotty calls, Alamos Town.

_"I guess I should test her out a few times before I go in full force..."_ Jake thought. He knew that Gigi was no longer a pushover, witnessing the first moments of her match with Rocket from earlier tonight. He had to be very cautious with her, or she could easily get the upper hand on him as well.

Without a word, Jake made the first attack, powering up to Legendary and using Hydro Pump from his hands directly towards Gigi.

Gigi quickly conjured a Dark Javelin with a sample of her energy. "Keeping your range, huh?" she spoke under her breath, tossing the powerful Javelin through the aquatic tunnel, ignoring the current's force and passing through seamlessly towards Jake. The Dark Javelin was also pushing every ounce of water away from it—it was THAT powerful.

A small explosion was seen next, from Gigi's Javelin striking Jake's current position. Once the dust cleared, Jake was nowhere in her sight.

_"Here we go..."_ she thought, knowing that Jake was ready to fight once he started to warp. She was waiting on where he was going to attack next.

The duck suddenly appeared in front of her, launching a fist at her. Gigi blocked it easily, catching on to his move like it was second nature.

_"She is as alert and powerful as I thought." _Jake continued to ponder, throwing about 30 more punches and kicks at her, only to miss or get blocked every time. He was testing her, holding back on purpose to get a good feel on how he should go about taking her on. Jake was using normal fighting styles, not his Gentle Fist... but why?

Gigi sighed, before grabbing Jake's wing and tossing it down to throw him off balance. Quickly after this, she made another Dark Javelin in her left hand and tossed it down between them, causing another explosion. This time, both Titans took on some damage from this; Jake, of course, took more damage since it was not his technique.

Jake then used Gust to clear away the dust cloud himself. When it was blown away, Gigi was not in view.

"Get serious, Jake!" Gigi shouted out, appearing behind the duck looking ready to attack. She called him out on how he was approaching her—it felt like he was going back on his word of giving "nothing short of his best." She was not convinced, powering up to her own Legendary strength, which was different from Jake's in that it was nearly absent of stress.

With no time to react, Jake had to brace for her attack.

Gigi started off attacking with something she calls her Drill Kick, in which she propels her target forward by executing a "spinning dropkick" just above the ground, hitting multiple times. Before landing, she puts her hands down on the ground to support herself while she brings her legs around to continue attacking Jake with sweeping kicks. After both legs made contact, she delivers one more sharp upward kick to stun him, and also send him about 7 feet in the air. Finally, Gigi zips to Jake and finishes this combo with a Burst Kick, getting its name based on its speed. The Burst Kick had enough force to send him into Alamos Town, crashing through one of the buildings. Gigi's maneuver was called the Spin Drive Smasher.

Inside the house with the now broken wall, Jake was on his back on the ground, trying to regain his strength.

"Damn..." he muttered, disappointed in underestimating her and leaving himself open to her attack.

He was holding back, so now, it was time to stop analyzing his opponent so much. He knew that because of what he did to beat Scorch, his Byakugan, Gentle Fist, and Eight Trigrams skills would be half as effective against Gigi... but he had to at least make things easier on himself. It was time to get serious.

As Jake got back to his feet, he sensed that Gigi had summoned a Midnight Wolf to hunt him down. Remembering how destructive even one of them is, Jake had to act fast.

_"Byakugan!"_ Jake activated his special eyesight. Looking back towards the bridge, he could see the dense energy coming from the Midnight Wolf, which was within 30 feet of Jake now.

Gigi looked on, as the wolf finally made it to the building, dive-bombing into it and self-destructing, leaving a big dark cloud afterwards. She quickly went over into Alamos Town to see the damage up close, but before she got to the now destroyed house, she was hit with a strong Empty Palm from Jake. The poodle flew a few feet backwards, landing on her back before rolling through to recover, back on her feet.

"Didn't see that coming..." Gigi murmured, with her eyes still set on the nearly disappeared dark cloud.

Jake was finally seen, catching a bit of his breath after the attack. _"That wolf is trouble; it nearly broke through my Rotation... but I guess the impressive thing is that all my moves of the sort are half as strong now. Despite that, I still need to find a way to get her."_

"My turn." Gigi spoke, acting first after the moment of silence by generating a Dark Javelin within two seconds, keeping it in her right hand as she ran towards Jake.

"Oh no you don't.." Jake uttered, warping away from Gigi.

_(The music halts.)_

Before he was completely out of her sight, Gigi randomly tossed the spear into the air. Unbelievably, the duck reappeared several meters in the air... unknowingly in the path of the Dark Javelin.

"WHOA!" Jake shouted upon sight of the powerful spear zooming towards him. He teleported again, right before the Dark Javelin would make contact with him. He was a short distance to the left of where he had warped before. Jake was left speechless at how close she came to hitting him.

**[I^I]**

"What the...?" Mystic exclaimed.

"He was half a mile away from her, and she nearly got him with that random throw? Someone explain to me how in the world did she know where he was going to appear? If that wasn't luck, then what was it?" Dotty wondered.

"That even surprised me..." Mac uttered as an aside, with his eyes opened wider in shock.

Sweet was silent, but focused in thought on the battle. _"It's great that Gigi is rising to the top as well as she is... but in all seriousness, it's scary because of how much control she can gain in a fight. It just takes one single moment. It's a good thing; it demonstrates how she's handled herself since the New 12 was made. Jake had better go all-in and think of something... he may not last much longer if he doesn't."_

**[O^O]**

"Surprised? Heh... you WILL be." Gigi said as she was prepping her Shadow Blazer Fury, putting dark energy into her hands and feet as demonstrated in her match against Rocket.

"Byakugan, I hope you won't disappoint me now..." Jake murmured, ready for the next attack.

The black poodle made her first dash, aiming to hit with her right fist. But after long last, Jake's eyesight finally came through for him, as he managed to block her fist with his own Gentle Fist style. However, he was still knocked back by the speed of the move.

"It's about time..." Gigi uttered, before she made her second swift move, charging at him with a left elbow from his right.

Jake turned over and defended again, with a sweeping left strike. Although his Byakugan was not at its full working capability, he continued to counter Gigi's attacks while being able to barely keep up with her breakneck speed. He was hit several times still.

_"Let's see you block this!"_ Gigi thought, executing a Flash Step and then reappearing above Jake to perform her Dark Kick—the ending blow to her Shadow Blazer assault.

Jake saw it coming, and had to react fast. "Eight Trigrams Time Warp!" he shouted.

It was the only technique of Jake's Eight Trigrams that had its full potency, giving him the same 10 seconds of free time over 1 second in real time. Using his time, he needed to find a place where he was away and nearly undetectable by his opponent. Looking down and away from Alamos Town, Jake found a large lake surrounding the base of the mesa that the town was set upon. Jake wondered why he did not notice the water before because he could've used that to his advantage. It was time to use it now, and plan well... as Gigi would be tough to overcome. He warped there just before the Time Warp's effects wore off.

Gigi's leg finally swept through, before she realized he was already gone. "Darn... he even hid his energy pretty good too. Well now, I guess I'll have to snuff him out." she said to herself.

She then raised her power level (to the peak of her Legendary status: 11,500 BEANs) and then threw about 30 Dark Javelins into the air. Before they all came down, Gigi put up her hand sign for her Midnight Wolf Pack Jutsu, transforming each of those powerful spears into a dangerously destructive silhouette of a wolf. Again, they were acting through Gigi's thoughts, so since she was thinking about searching the entire span of Alamos Town, the wolves ran down and began searching every street and walkway for Jake. Gigi herself would go down and wait at the twin-spire monument at the peak of the town.

Meanwhile, Jake was contemplating what he could do to get the upper hand on Gigi. His water control ability was not like his Gentle Fist skills and his Byakugan; it was still at its full strength, and the only move he had used in this match was Hydro Pump. Looking at the lake, he recognized that he had a lot of reserves... but the question was: how would he use them?

Only the Bean Titans at the press box and the people in attendance knew what was going on in both places... but they could only be silent and wait for the next confrontation.

After five minutes, the wolf pack had returned to Gigi at the courtyard in front of the twin tower building, and they all bowed down to her, including the alpha. "No leads..." Gigi murmured, as she knew that the wolves were telling her that they did not find a trace of Jake's power anywhere in Alamos Town.

_(BGM change: "Breakthrough Even" — Bleach. It only plays through once.)_

Suddenly, she and her summoned Midnight Wolves found Jake when he was flying straight up from the eastern border of Alamos Town.

_"You wanted me to get serious earlier Gigi... well, I hope you're ready for what you wished for!"_ Jake thought, as he raised his arms to the sky, putting one hand over the other.

"**What's this?**" Gigi exclaimed, noticing that the duck was about to strike back with a vengeance.

In response to this arm motion, a gigantic spiral of water rose from behind him and at the "head" of the aquatic spiral was the face of a fierce sea serpent. The water was drawn from every ounce of the lake at the base of the mesa and the design of the serpent's face was inspired by something that Jake himself and a few other Titans had faced before. The name of it was also reminiscent of the beast.

"Leviathan Vortex!" Jake cried out, launching his hands towards Gigi, commanding the huge water spiral to rush towards her and flood her in a violently strong current.

_"This ought to be interesting."_ Gigi imagined. To respond, she made her all her wolves join together and create one giant wolf. "Go!" she commanded, prompting the wolf to take on the vortex head-on.

**_*CLASH*_**

It was a nearly matched contest... and it seemed as if the aquatic serpent's roar was just a little stronger than the vicious growls and howls of the dark wolf. The water current was inching its way closer to Gigi, and the wolf was trying to keep it away. She saw her canine companion struggling, while Jake was giving a light smile, now relieved that he's slowly gaining the upper hand.

_"Hmm, this could be bad... unless I use... that. I've been using it all this time, but not even close to its full strength and not too often. I'll have to use all 3 forms of it this time, full power. Jake, good luck with this one. This is for the win."_ Gigi thought to herself, as she would finally take action while the clash is still in effect.

The crowd watched in awe, witnessing the biggest struggle of the night thus far, remembering what's at stake. The winner of this contest would be named leader of a team of their choosing, and considering how far both competitors have come, they surely deserve it.

Gigi started out by creating 2 clones of herself. One of her clones threw a Dark Javelin at the giant Midnight Wolf, causing it to self-destruct and blow away about a third of the water in the large vortex, which still was falling towards the black poodle. That's where her second clone and Gigi herself played their parts, as the first clone disappeared.

The second clone performed a Shadow Blazer dash, going into the water spiral with an Umbriel Rasengan. Gigi specifically designed this clone to have a large defensive stat, being able to withstand much of the Leviathan Vortex's high water pressure. She knew that the clone probably would not hit Jake with the Umbriel Rasengan, but she had hoped that it would get close enough to him so he would react to it.

Finally, Gigi herself would perform a Summoning Jutsu and bring forth what she would call her Lunar Wall—which rose from the ground, spanning out about 50 yards and standing 25 yards tall. This wall would act as a shield against most attacks... but against water, the Lunar Wall will redirect incoming large water sources to a place of Gigi's choosing. When the water would make its way to the wall, she chose to make the water flow down a few random roads in the town to the right of her, so that it would not harm her.

Her actions would go as planned, as the second clone was within ten yards of Jake, still in the vortex.

Jake winced, seeing Gigi coming at him with the Umbriel Rasengan. "Oh no, you don't! High Tide!" he exclaimed, unleashing his greatest water blast to push her back.

He then pursued after her until he noticed the Lunar Wall through the water. Convinced enough that Gigi was tricking him, Jake powered up and charged full force into the wall with his Eight Trigrams Force Sphere Rotation, breaking the wall.

He actually managed to knock the real Gigi back, sending her to the ground.

**[I^I]**

"Jake's the only one that's been able to push Gigi like this." Kuku stated.

"And from what I see, he may have her number." Dep concluded.

"No... something's off." Mac said, skeptical of the situation.

"Whatever do you mean?" the sisters, Mystic and Fortress, simultaneously exclaimed. They could not believe Mac's words.

"Seriously, Mac! What else could be off about this situation? Gigi had used a lot of those Dark Javelins in this battle, and I'm sure they each take a good chunk of her energy considering how powerful they are and that Luke can only use one or two of them a day." Dotty implored.

"Cool your jets..." Mac began. "I'm not talking about my son this time. It's Gigi."

"What about her?" Aurora asked.

"Get this: Gigi is much stronger and has LOADS more energy control than Luke. The fact that she's used as many Dark Javelins is because of that. At most, they've taken about 10% of her energy. Another thing... she hasn't used any clones at all in this tournament until now. With that clue alone, it seems to me that she has some kind of plan. All the energy she used and the hits she took may be a part of it. So as much as I'd like my son to win... she may already have the fight won. All we can do is watch."

"Exactly." Sweet finally said, in reply to Mac's last sentence. "Just watch."

**[O^O]**

"I have you now..." Jake murmured. He looked up to the press box, to make sure his father was watching what he was about to do next.

_(BGM start: "Vegeta Powers Up" — Dragonball Z. This song also plays through only once.)_

Jake extended his arms out and began to gather as much of his power as he possibly could. His chakra was visible, thickening and lining his body in sync with the intensity of the power he was gaining. He then put his hands together in front of him, with the bottoms of his wrists connected to each other. The ground beneath him began to break and a force wave pushed everything around him.

Gigi was slowly getting up, mustering her strength as well, but would only stand in place once she was on her feet. She could withstand the force.

**[I^I]**

Mac saw the familiar stances and was convinced when a light ball began to form in his son's hands. "No way..." he managed to say, shocked at what Jake was doing along with everyone near him.

"Final Flash?/!" Kuku shrieked.

"Mac, that's your move! How in blazes does Jake know how to use it?" Hippity wondered.

"...I don't know. He must've learned it in his own training—I never taught him how to use it. If I did, that would've taken a few years, and then a few more to even control it. To think he would be able to do it now is just indescribable..."

"However you explain it, the Final Flash is no joke... and it's even more dangerous at close range! Gigi needs to move!" Dotty suggested.

"Doesn't look like she's backing down..." Thunderbolt noticed, seeing Gigi just standing in Jake's way and walking a few steps toward him.

"Mac, you say you think she has the match won... I THINK SHE'S DOWNRIGHT INSANE! She walking closer towards her defeat, and it'll be sealed if Jake fires that thing!" Mystic retorted.

"Are you all through freaking out?" Sweet asked.

"Um.. why aren't **YOU?"** Floppity replied.

"Because Gigi's power is still higher than his... and it's rising."

Baffled enough already, Dotty checks the status boards. "Sweet... is right. How is that so? She isn't even powering up like most other Titans would."

"That's because it's a silent focus." Sweet answered. "Gigi taps more into her spirit and willpower, rather than just her power and sheer strength alone to sustain herself. She's worked herself to the point where she doesn't have to stress to power up, almost like it's natural for her. She fights with a focus that I've never seen... and that's unique. Gigi has an ace up her sleeve, you can believe that. But the question is: what is it exactly?" Sweet lectured.

This left the rest of the Legendary 12 and the Team Z members without words. They knew he was right and many of them were ashamed because they could have learned what he learned if they were more focused and quiet as their leader was.

**[O^O]**

"Why are you getting closer to me? I don't think even you would survive this attack... especially not this close! You should be moving away." Jake advised Gigi.

The black poodle suddenly stopped, standing 10 feet away from Jake. She was looking at him with an intense stare, and her blue eyes were slowly turning silver. Gigi did not say a word either... she only looked at him.

Jake returned the look, studying her in his mind while he was charging the Final Flash. _"Her eyes... they aren't the same. And what's with her energy? It's still going up! But how? Ugh, I need to end this now!"_

_(The song fades and ends.)_

Gigi then expanded her eyes slightly, focusing even more on Jake. _"Conqueror's Haki. Endgame."_ she declared in her mind.

All of a sudden, Jake began feeling like he was under heavy pressure, and in turn, his own power began to leave him. _"Guh... what the...? This feeling... I'm... fading fast... but... why? What's... happening?"_

Upon that completed thought, any energy or chakra that Jake had put into preparing for an attempt at a Final Flash was nonexistent. The duck felt very faint for about 10 seconds, until finally, he collapsed to his knees and then fell sideways to the ground, with his eyes now fully shut.

No one could believe their eyes. Gigi did nothing more than look at him, and in no time at all, he lost his consciousness somehow.

Sweet went down to verify the situation. He saw the bulging veins on Jake's Byakugan suddenly disappear, but Jake would not awaken or react in any way possible after 15 seconds.

Sweet then rose and took a look at Gigi. _"Incredible..."_ he thought, as he moved to the center of the Aeroseum, as Dotty worked on the battle grounds and everything else inside the stadium so that it was restored back its original state. Not to mention, the crowd was fascinated by the technology that allowed them to watch all the action is so many different ways.

A Watcher camera floated in, to act as both a recording device and a microphone for Sweet.

Gigi powered down. "What is it?" she asked him, seeing that his head was down.

"I'm just gathering myself to make this announcement." Sweet replied.

"Do you mean—"

Sweet took her hand and slowly raised it. While it was being held, Gigi's concern turned into happiness... as the crowd responded loudly in cheer to her hand finally being held above her head.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the winner of the UNLIMITED Tournament and the new leader of a team of her choosing: Gigi Morreaux!"

Gigi drops to her knees, happily thankful for what she has just accomplished. After the first round, she went from being the most unlucky fighter to being the most formidable competitor. Fighting on, she would become the odds-on favorite. All she had wanted was to be in the tournament and finally make it past the first match... but she did not expect to be the last one standing at the end, and become the champion. She has earned the respect of many, and gained a tremendous privilege.

"Congratulations, Gigi. You've impressed so many people and opened up many eyes—even mine. You've earned it." Sweet told her.

Gigi finally looked up, shedding a tear with a smile. She then looked upon Mac, who was looking down to her along with the rest of the Legendary 12. They must have been warped to her location thanks to the cardinal. Kuku and Hippity had Jake's arms on their shoulders, since he was still regained his consciousness.

"You're all here?" Gigi uttered.

"Yes." replied Fleece.

Mac extended his wing to her. "Well done." he said, as she grabbed his wing and stood up.

He had already heard that Gigi won and wanted to congratulate her. Gigi beat him to the sportsmanship, as she supported his body from the left, replacing what Hippity was previously doing.

"And there you have it folks, a great ending to a great night here in the Titans Metropolis. That's all we have for tonight! Come join us for TUE on Friday! Safe travels, everyone!" Sweet announced in closing.

All in attendance proceeded to take their leave from the Aeroseum, making their way to jam-pack the elevators down to the Megaplex.

**/-/**

**More to come after this.**


	9. Spotlight

**AN: ****References used [previously]: Teen Titans, Justice League Unlimited, Final Fantasy (VII: Crisis Core, X, & XII), Marvel/X-Men, Pokémon, Kids Next Door, Dragonball Z, Capcom, Naruto, WWE, TNA Impact, Family Guy, Bleach, Code Geass, Sonic Adventure 2, Xiaolin Showdown, Bakugan Battle Brawlers, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and One Piece.  
In this chapter: **_nothing new_**.**

Chapter 9 — Spotlight

_(Current time: 10:00 PM, Monday night.)_

After saying farewells to their fans for now, the Bean Titans all assembled in the elevator chamber in the Megaplex, directly below the Aeroseum's center. There was a floor panel that was labeled with a giant "B", and it had a special function besides being an indoor design. Naturally, it was the teleporter for any of the Titans that wanted to get to and from the Megaplex immediately, instead of warping somewhere on the outer rim of the Titans Metropolis. The panel glowed in an iridescent rainbow mix of colors.

The first people to teleport home were Lucky and Frisbee, to the Moon Base. They had already told Sweet that they would not be able to attend TUE on Friday because of a special project they and the rest of Titans X still have in development. The only thing that was said was that it was "VERY important", so with those words alone, everyone understood.

Sweet would go next, taking Gigi alone with him, back to the Home Base. He had a few more things to tell her before he could call it a night.

_After the warp, inside the super-computer room..._

"What a night, eh Gigi?" Sweet started out.

"Yes, I know it." she replied with a light smile.

"I'm glad you're happy. Now, I must tell you a couple of things that I want to say."

Gigi listened intently, nodding her head.

"First, I'll go ahead and mention the important thing. Tomorrow at noon, the Legendary 12 is going to hold another conference, but this conference is centered on you, Gigi. Now that you are an official leader, we will have to go over a few things before you go about picking on the other Titans to be on your special team. There are some ideas to consider, and ideas to avoid with this new responsibility that you have earned... so be prepared for that tomorrow."

He did not ask for it, but Gigi assumed the Titans Salute, moving her right arm so that it was horizontally placed in front of her chest, parallel to the ground.

"Yes sir." she replied.

Sweet went with it, answering the salute with one of his own.

"Welcome to your new life, Gigi. It can be enjoyable, and it can be arduous... but the rewards ahead of you are well worth it in the end." Sweet paused and then turned Gigi to the teleporter. "The rest of the Bean Titans should be warping in now, and we're both going to stay here and be prepared for anything. They could talk about how the night was for them, about how the tournament was—you name it."

"What should I do?" Gigi questioned.

"Just improvise. If they talk to you, don't worry—it's all like normal conversation."

First came the older adults, not including those in the Legendary 12. It was just Scorch, Pouch, Roam and Scoop. Pouch was supporting Scorch, who was still feeling a bit of fatigue from his match against Jake. Both Roam and Scoop continued moving, out of the super-computer room.

"Are you feeling alright, Scorch?" asked Sweet.

"Yeah, I should be better by next morning... I just need some rest, that's all. Heck, I'm not complaining when I'm in the best hands a dragon could have."

Pouch gave off a light blush. "Of course you are." she said with a smile.

Scorch turned his head to Gigi. "Hey, congrats on the big win. I know I would've been proud to be in your spot, but to be honest, I'm even more proud that it was you that earned it."

Gigi was surprised, always thinking that Scorch was always about business. This was his softer side speaking to her. "Th-thank you, Scorch..." Gigi replied.

As he and Pouch walked away, the youngest generation of the Bean Titans entered next. This group consisted of: Bronto, the Chill twins (Chilly & Leah), Glory's twin daughters (Gloria & Gloriana), Waddle, Britannia, Fireworks, Osito Jr., Nibbly, Nibbler, Jake and Chipper. Their ages ranged from 10 to 16.

"Did you all have fun?" Sweet asked them all.

Except for Bronto, Jake and Chipper, who were in the tournament, they all replied with a resounding "yes". They couldn't wait for TUE on Friday, as most of them hurried on to their rooms. The other three stayed behind, still in the room with Sweet and Gigi.

Bronto began a conversation with Sweet about why he was picked to fight Scorch in the first round. Meanwhile, Chipper was given the job of making sure Jake was okay after his match with Gigi... and it was uncomfortable for both of them, as they were opponents (made rivals) in the first round.

"You can let go of me now..." Jake half-heartedly suggested to Chipper, who was supporting him by his left arm.

"Dotty said I had to help you like this. Could be just a LITTLE more considerate?" she answered back.

"But I'm fine!" After his heated response, Jake started to feel light-headed, experienced a few chills, and lost his sense of balance. Luckily, Gigi moved up and caught him before he slumped to the ground, supporting him yet again.

"I would take Dotty's word for it and rest, Jake." Gigi spoke. "To be honest, I wouldn't want you to overexert yourself."

The duck started to calm down now, but he was overly curious of how he was defeated. "Gigi, I don't know if this is the right time to ask, but what did you do at the end of our match? I was about 3 seconds away from using my blast, and before I knew it, my energy had completely left me. What in the world happened?"

Gigi was a bit reluctant to explain, but since Roam was willing to talk about Rush Power before battling him, she thought it was okay. As she was about to explain, all of the rest of the Bean Titans came through the teleporter, one by one.

"It's what I discovered in my own training, after I got back from monitoring the New 12. Before I discovered this, I had to wonder why... why the Legendary 12 included me in the running for the 12th spot in the New 12. I was literally confused, but I thought that if I took the time to tap into what I had inside of me, I'd find it. If I got the reason why I was selected from one of them, it would have been easier. But I stopped trying to figure out what they thought about me, and started trying to change myself."

"That explains why you're so confident and determined now... but I think what Jake wants to know is: what were you doing, standing there in front of him while he was charging up for that massive blast?" Chipper asked.

Gigi was finally ready to spit out the answer. "Haki."

_(BGM: "Nothing Anymore" — Bleach.)_

Rocket flew in on the conversation. "Haki? What in the flying flip is Haki?" he asked.

"The special power I found within myself. Actually, Haki is a special strength in everyone, but a lot of people hardly even notice that they have it. Basically, it's the same as using your own presence to adapt to situations or even overpower the wills of anyone you're up against. Because of it, I've trained myself to power up without any stress... but that's not the point. I've used Haki to help me in a lot of ways in the tournament earlier." Gigi explained.

"Really? How so?" Fortune inquired, walking into the group with Tracker and Hippie, wanting to know more about Gigi as she had earned a greater responsibility position.

"The first type is called Observation Haki. I used it on pretty much every one of my opponents. Observation Haki basically gave me the power to predict any and every move that came my way, no matter where they were or how fast they were attacking. To no offense, Rocket's speed felt like 10 miles per hour at close range, and not anywhere near the speed of sound. The same case was with Roam and his Titanic Charge—it was Rocket's true speed exactly, but I was still able to counter it in time."

"No way..." Rocket stammered, wide-eyed at the fact that Gigi was practically psychic now.

"With Observation Haki, it was easy to avoid all the fighting styles that Tracker brought to me, and I was even able to predict where Jake would appear after every warp."

_"So that's how she nearly got me with that one Dark Javelin she threw randomly in the air..."_ Jake wondered, remembering that very scene.

"I will admit though, that I didn't have to use Observation that much at some points. I just relied on my own skill sometimes."

"I understand that..." Rocket began, "but how in the hell did you stop me without it looking like you felt any kind of force against you? My Aerial Ace is powerful, and it's enough to do to what Scorch's tail can do when it hits someone!"

"And my Stone Smite would've flattened you... but it didn't, and I don't know why." Tracker added.

Gigi nodded. "Those moments were because of the effect of another type of this special power... Armament Haki. With this, I channel all of my spirit energy into creating this invisible armor that is strong enough to resist or even stop attacks completely, even some of the most powerful moves. I can also use Armament Haki to be a "buffer", strengthening any one move I wish to make—my Rhino's Horn jab was what I used to stun you, Tracker."

Jake groaned in dissatisfaction. "You still haven't answered my main question! I can understand how you slip through and avoid attacks, and how you defend yourself... but none of that explains why our match ended with you just standing in front of me!"

Suddenly, the tip of a red wing had touched Jake's forehead, startling everyone in the group. Mac was present, lightly nudging his son's head with his wing. "Patience is divine... remember that, Jake. You have to calm down and wait." he told him.

The duck lowered his head. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, I'm actually curious about what happened too. I didn't even know you could use Final Flash, and if Gigi hadn't done what she had done, you would have been victorious. So, Gigi, will you explain that to us all?" Mac asked, removing the tip of his wing from Jake.

The poodle nodded. "Observer's Haki and Armament Haki... neither of those were used at that last moment in our match, Jake."

Jake's eyes widened. _"What...?"_ he thought, shocked.

"As I said before, this spirit power can be used by anyone, but hardly anyone will discover it for themselves... and the 2 types of Haki can be trained to the points that I have shown my opponents earlier. However, there is one more type of Haki that exists, but the chances of anyone discovering it within themselves is second to none. Unlike the other 2 forms I mentioned, it cannot be learned through training. Despite all of that, it is the most powerful type. This Haki simply gives me the power to overwhelm the spirits of anyone I face, using my own spirit and willpower. It can be resisted, but only if the opponent has a strong will. That said, those with a weaker will than mine will do nothing more than lose their consciousness. That is what happened with you Jake. It was the third and final type... Conqueror's Haki."

At the sound of the latter title, Jake and various members in the group thought it fit perfectly. Gigi conquered Jake with her new skill. They would consider her power level as well; if anyone else were in Jake's place, the end result would likely be the same—with her hand held at the end of the fight. Gigi used pure spirit and willpower to use Haki, meaning that unless she was already feeling very fatigued, she would be able to use it constantly and effectively. She is very difficult to strike down.

Hippie held his head down, with his bunny ears drooping down in front of his face. "Gigi, I'm sorry." he spoke out.

"Hmm? For what?" she responded, confused.

"I talked down on you... in my first match against Congo. I was saying you weren't qualified or fit to be the leader of a team, considering what's happened in the past with you. I even doubted that you would make it to the final round. It was wrong of me—and now I see where I stand, too. Not just about what I was saying about you... but also why I'm not on the same sphere as my best buds, Mooch and Sly. I jump to conclusions too much."

Gigi walked up to him and put her hand on his shoulder, causing him to move his right ear to see her. He looked down to her, as they had an eight-inch height difference.

"It's okay, Hippie... really, it is." She then begins to look into the faces of everyone listening to her. "Listen, we're all trying to fix things about ourselves, whether or not we know what the problems are. That's why we all are here, as Titans... and the last time I checked, that's how Monsieur Sweet brought us up from the very beginning. You are right about one thing, Hippie—I don't know what to expect as a leader, but I won't be choosing the team until I do know, and until I feel the most ready. I feel that that's what is best at the moment."

Gigi was beginning to accept the stage in life she was, for it would change how everyone sees her.

"Look who's already starting to sound like a leader! I can live with that." Cheeks uttered, passing by the group and heading to his room for some much needed rest.

The poodle hid her face a little bit and gave off a light pink blush, feeling a bit bashful of the speech she gave. She was also reacting because of a touchy topic she had been thinking about earlier.

Sweet walked in on the group, patting Gigi's back. "No need to feel embarrassed—if anything, you should be proud! Those words impressed me, Gigi."

"Well... I'm glad for that." she murmured.

"Looks like everyone's in the Tower now. It's been a long day, everyone. I've seen some really good things tonight, and I hope we'll see more on Friday! Let's get us a well-deserved rest for now. I'm off for bed—see you all tomorrow."

The Bean Titans waved and said their goodnights to their esteemed leader. Some followed after his idea, while others went off into different parts of Titans Tower.

_(The music fades out.)_

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Fortune looked over and noticed that Gigi was covering her cheeks, which were even more pink than before.

"Is something wrong?" the panda asked, walking over.

Gigi's blue eyes wandered over to Fortune, who had a curious look on her face. "Oh, no... everything's okay!" she hesitated to say.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." she said, looking off.

Fortune shrugged and turned around with a smile. "I suppose I understand... but my, you bounce back fast."

Gigi reacted, startled by her words. "What are you saying?"

"You can't get it by me, girl... it's Cheeks, isn't it?" Fortune guessed.

Gigi shook her head frantically. "Oh... how did you know? Was it that obvious, or did you get into my mind, or what?"

"Neither—I can just tell how a girl feels when I see her. I don't need to be psychic for that."

Knowing that the cat's out of the bag now, the poodle decided to remove her hands from her face. "What should I do?" she asked openly.

"Just go for it, girl! If you just stand by wondering what could happen with a guy, NOTHING will ever happen with a guy. And believe it or not, you can set the tone more than he could, on the first encounter." Fortune told her, with a wink.

"But... how do I know if he likes me back?"

"He did say he could live with your leadership, right? Well, just be YOU! Maybe you're shy, but who knows? Maybe he'd grow to love that about you." Fortune continued to encourage Gigi because of three things: Fortune loved the topic of love; she imagined that Gigi's mind was out of place with Luke, who has well left her now; and that Cheeks, to Fortune, seemed to be an okay guy.

"Well, I guess I could try... tonight." Gigi uttered.

Fortune smiled. "Tonight's great! Just get out of your fighter's clothes and you're good to go, ha ha."

The poodle sweat-dropped. "Oh... right."

The two of them then exited the super-computer room to go down to their rooms in the Suites section of the Tower. Fortune decided to invite Gigi to her room to take their showers. Gigi went into her bathroom first, while Fortune waited on her turn. Hippie was also in the panda bear's room, on the bed watching TV.

"Um, what are you two doing?" he asked.

Fortune hopped in the bed. "Just a little late-night project..." she replied, poking his shoulder.

Hippie bounced his eyes. "What does that mean?"

"None of your business, honey bunny." she winked at him.

Hearing "honey bunny", Hippie grinned. "Okay, cookie bear."

Gigi stood in the doorway of the bathroom already dressed in her indigo nightgown.

"Um..."

Fortune looked to Gigi and then back to Hippie. "We'll continue this later..." she promised him.

"Fair enough." he responded.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

_(Current time: 11:10 PM. On the 2nd of 3 floors in the Suites sector of Titans Tower...)_

After taking her shower, Fortune accompanies Gigi out into the halls in the Suites, where a few of the Bean Titans were still unwinding from all the action from earlier tonight. Everyone they passed by glanced over at Gigi, realizing the new position she was in. She had the power to handpick any Titan at any time to be on a team under her leadership. For that reason alone, Gigi was revered by nearly everyone around her. It was a new and scary feeling, but she would have to learn to live with it sooner or later.

She and Fortune were about to turn on the hallway that Cheeks's room was in. In fact, the entire hallway belonged to the Summers family—Sweet, Fleece, and their sons. The fraternal twins, Cheeks and Congo, were the only two of the five brothers here this week. Sweet and Fleece were in the same room tonight.

"You're lucky his room is the first one here on the left." Fortune whispered, not wanting to disturb anyone.

The black poodle was rubbing her cheeks again. "Oh, I'm so nervous... I haven't been with someone for 8 years like you have. Aren't you and Hippie getting married soon?"

"Ah hah... don't change the subject."

"Sorry, but I just don't know how to go about doing this!"

Fortune placed her hands on Gigi's shoulders. "I already told you—just be yourself! Everything will go fine, and I know this because I'm not going to let you turn back now. You DO want this, right?"

"Well... yes..."

"Show me that confidence you had earlier, when you said 'tonight'." Fortune requested.

"_**Oui,**_** oui!**" Gigi responded in her French tongue.

"That's the spirit! All right, go on and knock on that door."

Gigi looked at the panda. "You're not coming with me?"

"This is as far as I go. Besides, Hippie doesn't do well on patience with a promise I make to him, hehe. I have faith in you, Gigi—you can do it. Go get 'em."

With that said, Fortune turns and walks back to her room, still looking in her friend's direction. She sees Gigi finally going into the Summers' hallway.

Gigi stands in front of Cheeks's door, trying to muster up some confidence and figuring out what she has to say before knocking. She knew that she was ready to move on and try her luck with Cheeks, but she was concerned about the delivery she was about to make. She did not want to be too upfront about it, and wanted to avoid coming off as flirty to him. After taking a good minute to contemplate in her nervousness, Gigi finally knocked on the door.

The doorknob began to move and sure enough the door cracked open. Surprise had suddenly swept the face of Gigi when she saw who it was on the other side.

"Gigi? What are you doing here?" Congo asked, standing in his brother's doorway.

Gigi raised her eyebrows after taking a sigh of relief. "I could ask you the same thing. Where's... um, Cheeks?"

"He's taking a shower right now, probably finishing up. He wanted me to record a show that he said he "couldn't miss for the world"... the reason why he forgot to record it earlier before going to the Megaplex is beyond me." the gorilla explained, shrugging and shaking his head.

Gigi gave out a short chuckle. "I wonder what he wanted to watch..."

Congo started walking to his room, on the other side of the hallway. "You could ask him yourself—me and him don't get visitors very often, so I'm sure he wouldn't mind having you."

Gigi looked off nervously. "He wouldn't?" she murmured.

"Yeah, just make yourself comfortable—heck, surprise him if you want, ha ha!"

Congo had entered his room and closed his door, leaving Gigi standing still in Cheeks's doorway with a few options in her mind. She could walk away, think more, or just wing it and surprise him like Congo indirectly suggested. Knowing she was on a positive streak now, she chose the last option, entering the baboon's room.

Inside, his room was decorated with about ten or so lava lamps, all of which had different colors. These lamps were apart of his custom design (thanks to the Tower's unreal smart system that catered to virtually every request). When the main light of the room was switched off, the lava lamps were on. His bed was circular and covered with soft black sheets.

The first thing Gigi looked at was the TV, which was playing an anime series of some sort. The recording light was on, so this was probably the show that Cheeks wanted to see. The anime featured a tall, slender young man with dark blue hair and flat dragon-like eyes, and a short girl with long golden brown hair and full, alluring hazel eyes. Gigi decided to sit on the front of the bed and watch the episode. She figured it would calm her nerves before Cheeks got out of his bathroom.

Soon enough, the bathroom door opened, revealing Cheeks with his towel over his shoulder. He had on dark blue shorts.

"Whoa whoa... Gigi?" he exclaimed, caught off guard and seeing the black poodle sitting on the edge of the bed in her nightgown.

Gigi's eye's bulged, and the light pink blush returned on her face. The shyness overcame her, as she could hardly speak words out now.

"What'cha doing here?" he asked, moving closer to her.

"Um..." she uttered, looking down to hide as much of her blush as she can.

Cheeks noticed the anime show that was on, showing the main characters at a ski resort. "Oh, do you like Toradora?"

"Well.. this is my first time seeing it, and... it looks interesting."

"Oh really? Well I don't mind; you can watch this episode with me and I can tell you more about this show!"

The baboon laid back in his bed to get more comfortable. Gigi scooted back slightly, looking back at Cheeks every now and then. The longer she stayed in his company, the more she grew to like him—and in effect, becoming more and more nervous. Luckily, Gigi liked to learn about new things, and realizing that Cheeks was a fan of anime, she would listen intently. All she was doing was calming her instinct to just attack him with love and get it over with. At this point, she already was certain that he was TONS better to be with than Luke, who has been majorly brash to her as of late—hence, she is not his anymore.

The episode of Toradora had finally concluded, and as the credits were playing, Gigi was found sitting right next to Cheeks, against his pillows. Thanks to the knowledge she had gained and the time that was already spent in the room, she had grown more comfortable about the whole situation. She felt less awkward, smiling more to his face.

Cheeks sighed. "Man..." he murmured.

"What is it?" Gigi questioned, curious about his sudden change in mood.

"I just haven't told you one of the main reasons why I watch anime so much, especially shows like this. I'm sure you could probably guess it..."

"Hmm... is it because there are cute girls?"

"Well, that's I guess that's part of it... but not exactly." he spoke, looking off.

"Do you like it because they argue in different ways?" Gigi guessed, giving out a giggle afterwards.

"Ha ha, no...!"

"If I said 'I don't know', would you tell me?"

Cheeks thought about it for a second, then turned his face back to her. "Okay, but you can't tell anyone else about this, especially not any of my brothers."

"I won't speak a word." Gigi promised him.

Cheeks took in a breath. "All right. I have never..."

"Never, what?"

"Well..."

Gigi put a hand on his shoulder and nudged him. "Just tell me!"

He looked at where she pushed him and then back to her. "I've never had a girlfriend before."

_(BGM #2: "Ame Iro Rondo" — Toradora!.)_

This was news to Gigi, as she thought that he has had more experience than she did. "Wait... what?" she mouthed out to him.

"It's true. I pretty much feel ashamed compared to everyone else... and seeing the connections between the people I see in anime brings that feeling out even more. Look at my brothers: Mooch is married, Slowpoke and Bongo both have girlfriends, and even Congo at one point—he was dating a girl at the Academy a couple of years ago. I'll admit though, that I haven't really thought about getting a girl until I turned 18. I was caught up in my own antics, but that's another story. The point is, my experience with love relationships is zero."

"Oh... I'm... sorry to hear that." Gigi replied. She had never known that. She presumed that all of the brothers had some type of experience with a female, however it might've occurred. Cheeks was the odd man out, having never asked out a girl. How could he, when he always thought that either all the girls he knew (Titans or not) already had a guy, or already have a crush of their own?

"It's okay. I mean, you understand right? You've been single before, until Luke came into your picture."

Gigi gave out a light growl and then sighed, looking away in indirect disdain. "Don't say his name, Cheeks... just don't." she told him.

"Huh, why not? ...Was Fortune right?" the baboon wondered, now feeling concerned for Gigi. He remembered what Fortune was saying in her match against Luke, who did not respond in a level-headed way. "Did something really happen with you and him?"

Gigi paused, still turned away from Cheeks's face. She was trying to figure out the right words to say. "It happened a couple of months ago. I was expecting a happy return home from him, after watching over the New 12 at the Antarctic Base. I was denied that—he was suddenly being cold-hearted to me, day after day, for reasons I don't know. I couldn't handle it anymore." she explained.

The baboon's mouth had opened slightly, in shock, thinking that Gigi was always happy with Luke. "You mean that you're..."

"Yes..." Gigi answered him with a sad tone. "Being single, it hurts a bit.. but **becoming ** single can hurt even worse. I tried to live with the pain, until I realized that I don't deserve it. I did nothing wrong, and he still took out whatever issue he had on me. He needs to clean up his act, and I'm not going to sit around and do it for him. I'm not going back to him. EVER. I deserve better."

Cheeks put his hand on her right shoulder in sympathy, causing her to turn her slightly rosy face back to him. "I feel you, completely. I know you said that happened a long while ago, and you've probably moved on for sure... but as one Bean Titan to another, I have to say that I'm sorry you had to go through that. It's his mistake, that's for sure, but my real concern is that I hope he doesn't forget what being a Titan means... we are supposed to keep each other close, no matter how related we are. Heh, dad teaches me and the bros those kinds of lessons pretty much all the time. Still, that's what I take out of all of this. You have a new, better life ahead of you, so spend it with the people who care enough to share it with you."

Without a word, the black poodle proceeded to hug Cheeks, moved by everything he said. Cheeks was taken by surprise, but he returned the embrace by putting his arms around her as well, not letting go.

_(The music stops.)_

"Now that you've said that," Gigi began, "I realize just who those people are. I'm thankful to have people like your dad, the Legendary 12, Fortune, Hippie, and you..."

Cheeks looked to her face, releasing the hug a little bit. "Always."

_(BGM #3: "Yasashisa no Ashioto" — Toradora!.)_

Gigi learned a lot more about him than she expected. Her time with him made her primary objective become less of a personal need, and more of a meaningful obligation. She cared genuinely about him now, in all areas: conversationally, emotionally, and even physically, as she was swayed a little from him still being shirtless.

"Cheeks, can I ask something of you? It's more of a promise, really."

"Sure, anything." he replied with a heartwarming smile.

"You said that the Titans need to keep each other close. Well..." Gigi started to blush. "Can you promise me that you'll keep me close? Not as Gigi the leader... but as Gigi the person. You've taught me a lot of different things, and to be honest, you're a really special guy, Cheeks. I know I'm saying all this in one sitting, but I've never felt so connected with someone more than you. So I would love it if you would treat me as a partner, and not a captain. I... hope I'm not asking a lot of you."

Cheeks's smile subsided a bit, but her words caused feelings of compassion to swell up inside him. He held Gigi close again, and this time, he caressed her. "It's perfectly okay with me, Gigi. I promise." he told her.

Now Gigi smiled, closing her eyes and rubbing him back. Cheeks was certainly who she needed to have. All that was left was to make it official.

"Thank you so much. And... in return..." she began to tell him.

"Hmm?"

"I promise... to be yours."

Cheeks halted his hands from rubbing, stunned from what he had just heard. "Gigi, do you really want to... be with me?"

"Absolutely. This has been a happy day for me, filled with success: my first win out of the first round of a tournament, my first ever tournament victory entirely, and this is the first night of me being a new leader. Cheeks, nothing else would make me even happier than to be your first girlfriend, and to be perfectly honest, I can easily get used to staying with you."

Nearly speechless, he believed her, despite this being their first night together. "I... I don't know what to say.. or do."

"Just be yourself, don't be nervous!" Gigi told him with a light giggle, placing her hand against his chest, while she got under his bedsheets.

"Well, one thing's for sure... I don't want you to go back to your room, hehe."

Gigi helped him through the boyfriend role, being the fitting, submissive girlfriend. "So what do you have in mind?"

Cheeks got under his sheets, turned Gigi so that her back was to him, and then braced her to his body with his arms wrapped around her torso. "We cuddle... until we sleep." he suggested.

"Mmmm, I love that idea." she responded, pushing her back and hips against him.

He nudged her neck as they proceeded on with the cuddling. They both were enjoying every second of their time together.

"I'm really gonna get used to this.." he whispered in her ear.

Gigi felt herself warm up all over. She did not want to get up and leave. "Me too, Cheeks... me too."

**/-/**

**Cheeks seems to be one of the luckiest guys in the world right about now... haha. Gigi is lucky too, as it seemed that her heart put her in the right direction of things. And hey, all of this was just the first day! 4 days away until the next UNLIMITED Tournament. What surprises await the Bean Titans?  
**

**More to come, next chapter.**


	10. Temerity

**AN: References used [previously]: Teen Titans, Justice League Unlimited, Final Fantasy (VII: Crisis Core, X, & XII), Marvel/X-Men, Pokémon, Kids Next Door, Dragonball Z, Capcom, Naruto, WWE, TNA Impact, Family Guy, Bleach, Code Geass, Sonic Adventure 2, Xiaolin Showdown, Bakugan Battle Brawlers, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and One Piece.  
In this chapter: **_nothing new_**.**

Chapter 10 — Temerity

_(Current time: 9:30 AM, Tuesday morning.)_

_(Background music (BGM): "The Promise" — Final Fantasy XIII.)_

**"A new day, a new life"**... those words stayed inside the mind of Gigi, as she remained asleep in close quarters of Cheeks, the man she has chosen to be with since last night. Cheeks had just opened his eyes, waking up to the sight of his new girlfriend. He was reminded of the fact that Gigi was his first, which sprung up an internal conflict. He was trying to figure out how to be a good boyfriend, but all Gigi suggested to him was "be yourself" and keep her close as "a partner." Cheeks already knew that he had missed out on so much compared to all of his brothers, who have all at least gone out on a date with their girls. He had the power and opportunity now, but the thing he was fighting was the thought of what would happen if he chose to be himself around everyone else. How would they respond? What would they all think of not only him, but Gigi as well? He did not want to ruin either of their reputations. However, he had to consider something. Being with him is what Gigi wanted... and as of late, Gigi has gotten everything she wanted, regardless of the obstacle in front of her. She's fought her way out of practically nothing—getting away from a witless boyfriend, ending her first round losing streak in tournaments, proving her nonbelievers wrong, and even transforming her own nature both on and off the battlefield. Everything she does, she gets it done AND can back it up, if the need arises. Maybe she could make everyone understand her decision to be Cheeks's girl... but that was for a later time.

In the meantime, Cheeks would focus on the positives about this new situation. As he began to focus, he started to take in how physically beautiful she was. His attraction to her from last night was only conversational, emotional, and intellectual at the same time—that was, until the cuddling began. He realized now that he was more charmed by her than he thought. Cheeks loved her slight French accent, and how all her words like "this" and "that" had a "z"-sound at the beginning. Her black hair was very cute to him, thinking of her extra long pair of pigtails that reached down to her hips, where both ends were each decorated with a red bow. He imagined playing and teasing around with them, if she'd let him. And those cerulean blue eyes just snared him; they were full and alluring just like the pair of eyes that one of the girls on Toradora had. Finally, he acknowledged her body warmth, as her body was still a bit pressed against his.

_"Wow.. I love this girl more than I thought. But is it too early to show that?" _Cheeks wondered, still gazing at her closed eyes. He really wanted to see them opened again, and maybe once she was awake, he would know what to do. He then decided to lean his head in towards her left cheek.

Gigi had awoken by the time his lips were within 2 inches of her. "Good morning, you..." she said in a light, nurturing morning voice.

Cheeks was taken by surprise a little. "Oh, hey! Um, morning... beautiful."

The poodle gasped, as her mouth opened with delight. "You think I'm beautiful?"

"Of course! Everything about you... I could seal it with a kiss."

Gigi was excited to hear that, giving him an inviting look. "Well, nothing's stopping you, love-monkey."

"You mean, I can actually...?"

"I'm easy, Cheeks... I don't like to go slow or too quick either. I just want us to be happy."

Cheeks was thinking of the Bean Titans. "Oh wow, I really like that. But what about everyone else? What would happen if everyone knew about us, you especially?"

Gigi put a finger to his lips, as a sign for him to stop talking. "I know what you're worried about Cheeks, and it's okay. We will be fine because we will be there for each other, right?"

"Yeah." replied Cheeks, with reassurance.

"Like I said, I don't want to be treated as a leader... at least, not to the point where I feel like I'm above everyone else, because I don't feel that way at all. I know my place, and I will respect it accordingly. I want as many people as possible to understand that. As far as everyone else is concerned, I don't care what they think of us. There are about 25 other couples in the Bean Titans anyways, so it isn't that big of a deal. This is our design, Cheeks. If anyone threatens that, I'm willing to put up a defense, with words or none at all... even if it's the Legendary 12 themselves."

The baboon could clearly tell she cared deeply and passionately for what she believed in. It was amazing to him how much Gigi had changed since the New 12 had been announced a few months ago. It made him love and support her even more, and eliminated of some of his nervousness about this ordeal. Now he was ready, with less doubt in his mind.

"Gigi..." he called her, looking even closer into those eyes of hers, nearly hypnotized by them.

Gigi gazed back into his amber eyes, while removing her finger from his lips. She then watched him put a hand under the side of her face and leaned in towards her, lips first.

Cheeks had finally experienced his first kiss, locking together with Gigi's soft lips and closing his eyes to take in the sensation. Gigi refused to part with him, locking her arms around his body. Before all the talk, she wanted him desperately and had her doubts about him. Her affection for Cheeks has been refined, now certain that she does really care about him. The fact that she doesn't want to stop kissing him while she is still in his room confirms that.

_(The music halts.)_

Suddenly, there is a knock on Cheeks's door. Gigi and Cheeks both open one eye and then slowly release their smooch, which made a lasting smacking sound upon separation.

"Who is that?" Gigi whispered.

"It's probably my mom or dad... one of them usually knocks on our door trying to wake me and my bros up, if we aren't already." replied the baboon.

"Really? But how would they know?"

"If there's no answer after 2 knocks, they bust in and try to wake us up."

A second knock was heard after he said that.

"Oh my... maybe you should answer that." Gigi suggested.

"Are you sure?"

"Remember, I said I'd be ready for anyone." she said, winking at him.

Cheeks blushed a little bit, before getting up and walking to his door. "Okay, I will be too." he told her as he gripped his door handle and turned it.

Gigi got up as well, going into his bathroom. "I'll be in here for a minute." she called out.

Once Cheeks had the door half-opened, he was hit in the gut by a heavy ball of webbing, which meant only one thing... the fact that his father doesn't surprise attack his sons. It was Congo instead, catching his brother off-guard.

"Oof... you do know I have to eat breakfast, right?" Cheeks said, dropping to his knees.

"Can't take a surprise prank anymore, bro?" Congo questioned, joking around with him. He then felt a sudden shock go through his arm, grabbing it and finding a thin web line on his bicep. The line led down to the tip Cheeks's left pinky finger, where the web was shot.

Cheeks looked up with a sly smile. "Does THAT answer your question?"

Congo chuckled. "Apparently so."

"Anyways, what's up?" Cheeks asked, standing back on his feet.

The gorilla paced back and forth in the hallway. "There are two things, really. First and foremost, I need you to help me out and challenge Nibbly and Nibbler to a double duel."

Cheeks lowered his eyebrows. "You're kidding.. right?"

"Nope, I'm not. It's likely that we won't be in the tournament on Friday, and that dad will choose completely new people to be in it. Seeing as though we have great enough chemistry, I say we teach another pair of Titans some lessons, if they're okay with it."

Congo had a point. In the past, the Bean Titans would have team battle sessions while the Legendary 12 were out on official business. Cheeks and Congo were probably the most formidable duo, even before they had their new web-slinging powers.

"I understand what you're saying, but we'd be teaching to people with different powers. Wouldn't that be weird?" Cheeks questioned.

"Different strengths, different chemistry... they would have to work that out themselves, unfortunately. But we'll get to that later. Now to the second thing: how was Gigi's visit?"

Cheeks paused in nervousness, but then quickly regained his composure. "Oh um, it was great. She actually liked the show I was watching, so I decided to tell her more about it. Then we started talking more about all kinds of stuff."

Congo was surprised. "Ooh. Like what?" he wondered.

"She said a lot of things changed for her: her life, her way of fighting, people she used to know..."

"Whoa whoa, stop there—people she USED to know? What do you mean?"

"Well, it's actually just one person. Luke. Things didn't work out for them, and it's more of his fault."

Congo nodded. "Ah, so Fortune WAS right about sensing what was wrong with him."

"Yeah. Gigi said she had already moved on from him weeks ago, though. Once she told me that secret, I thought it was only fair if I told her one of mine."

"Which is...?"

"I've never had a girlfriend." Cheeks answered.

"Ha ha.. you aren't serious, are you?"

"If I wasn't, it wouldn't be a secret, bro."

Congo crossed his arms. "Well that explains why you never told me or any of the other bros. I mean, no girl has kissed me, but I've been on a few dates. We gotta get you hooked up, man."

"Err... that won't be necessary..." interrupted Cheeks, raising his finger to catch Congo's attention.

"Why's that? You think you can get it done yourself, or you already have someone in mind?" the gorilla guessed.

"Hmm. How can I explain this?"

"Hey guys...!" exclaimed Gigi, coming from behind Cheeks and greeting them both. She then quickly kissed Cheeks, much to the surprise of Congo. "Bye guys!" she said, as she skipped out of the hallway with her indigo nightgown still on.

Cheeks was left sprung for a short moment. "Uh yeah, I think that speaks for itself." he told Congo, looking away awkwardly.

"Dude... what the heck just happened?" asked an awestruck Congo.

"She kissed me. You saw it with your own eyes."

"And I'm DAMN proud of that! You lucky dog, you..." Congo exclaimed, patting the sides of the baboon's shoulders, ecstatic for his brother.

Cheeks was grinning modestly. "Ha ha, stop it..."

"Ahh, wait until the boys hear about this!"

"No!" Cheeks outbursted.

"Why not? This is great; this is your first girlfriend, Cheeks!"

"No. Not—a single—word. I promised her. I won't be ready to face everyone else without her being ready first. And judging from what she told me earlier, anyone who happens to get word about us had best keep their mouths under wraps."

Congo started to think about it. He witnessed what Gigi was capable of in a fight, and also recalled that she sounded differently than he previously heard. There was power behind her words now, and a tank-load of it...

"Oh man. Roger that..."

"Yeah. Another word of advice: treat her as she is, not for what she is." Cheeks told his brother, hoping he'd understand.

"What do you mean?"

"She's a new team captain now, right? Well, she doesn't want that kind of respect to be shoved down her throat, even if she hasn't made up her mind on who she wants in the team with her. So if you feel like you're about to say something about her to someone else, relay that difference in respect to them... and don't spill any information about me and her. It will be handled when the time is right."

"Wow, she really has changed, hasn't she? All right then. I swear not to say a thing—Brothers' Honor." Congo promised.

The idea of "Brothers' Honor" was a code made by Cheeks, Congo, Bongo, Mooch and Slowpoke. If this code was ever broken, it was dishonor amongst the family. Fortunately, neither of the five have done such a thing. With this in effect, Congo must honor the decision made by both Cheeks and Gigi.

"Good. Now let's get breakfast, before I lose any more space for it... ha ha." Cheeks said, shutting his door before walking out of the hallway with his brother.

"So, um, did you kiss her... like, in the room?" Congo asked after a moment of silence.

The baboon sighed, a bit concerned about Congo's reliability of keeping the secret a secret. "...Yep." he responded.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Hippie and Fortune were already in the grand living room, on the top floor of Titans Tower. They had already had breakfast, so they were found sitting on one of the couches. At first, they were talking about their own night together, until they decided to change the topic.

"So, I'm confused... since when did you start hanging out with Gigi? I mean, it's not just because she won the tournament, right?" Hippie asked his girlfriend.

Fortune gave out a sigh. "I just figured the girl needed a boost with her social life, and not just her heroic life. I kinda admire her though—she's really toughened herself up and stepped up to the plate. Hey, why not have 2 best friends? Ha ha."

"Ah, I guess I can understand that. Speaking of Lucy, isn't she and the rest of the New 12 going through some... "shenanigans" at Team Z's place?"

The panda looked confused. "Shenanigans? Where did you hear that?"

"Thunderbolt told me after last night's tourney. He said that Durango's televising everything that they're doing on the island, except for Felix and Bonnie. So I'm figuring it's something reserved for the adults, since the other ten of them are over 18. Must be some crazy stuff..." Hippie told her.

"Well, I'll be sure to find that out for myself. Finding what channel all of that is on just made my to-do list for the week." she announced.

"For the week? What about Friday's tournament?"

Fortune nodded negatively. "It's not likely that we'll be included in it. I think the Legendary 12 wants to see what our training has done for us, since the New 12 was picked. That being said, it'll probably be all new Bean Titans this time around."

"Well, that's good news for me!" exclaimed a voice behind them, causing them both to jump up.

Fortune did not bother to turn around because she recognized the voice. Hippie did, and saw Princess (age 22)—a purple-coated bear with an unbloomed bright white rose tattooed on the left side of her upper chest. She had violet eyes, and medium-long dark indigo hair that had one pink stripe and one purple stripe towards the middle. Some of her hair also veiled her right eye. Princess wore a forest green dress that cutoff at her knees.

"Whoa, a little privacy would be appreciated...!" Hippie complained.

"Please. Privacy isn't my heart's desire, so I expose it." Princess replied, rather rambunctiously. Evidently, she was a bit obnoxious.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means she's nosy, and she doesn't care what you think of her butting in uninvited." Fortune stated.

"That's a little extreme, dont'cha think Fortune? You're making me sound like I'm as bad as Wrinkle. Ease up a little, huh?" she said with shrugged arms, grinning mildly.

"Maybe I am, but you're still kinda absorbed in your own little world. Just because your name is Princess, doesn't mean you can use that title to belittle others." Fortune lectured, raising her voice a bit. She was starting to sound irritated of the other bear.

"And here, I thought there was peace between the Angels..." Hippie murmured as an aside, speaking of the four bears that protected all the Titans Towers with barriers a few years ago (the other two: Halo—a white bear much like an angel, with shiny wings and a halo; and Peace—a ty-dye bear with the peace symbol tattooed on her chest).

"Oh, you don't even know the story..." said Princess. "But in short, here the gist of it, Hippie: Fortune's always had a tiff with the way I handle and do things, Peace tends to be lazy and doesn't like putting herself in conflicts, and Halo is always the one trying to eliminate the issues and bring us all together... poor girl. How we even came together to put up the barriers during our little "tour" back then, now that I think of it, is beyond me... and if I remember correctly, the barrier here was breached twice—first by Burn and Bruno, and then a few of the Acolytes. I'd blame Peace, but since it was a group effort, I'd think all of us were to blame... ah, quite unfortunate, wasn't it Fortune?"

The panda hated hearing that pun, giving out a tempered growl and squinting her face to keep most of her anger in. She finally turned around and rose from the couch, moving around it and walking up to Princess, getting in her face. Using his speed, Hippie ran up and braced his girl back from getting too upset and using force against Princess.

The purple bear put her hands up and backed up a little bit. "Heh, at least your boyfriend knows how to respect someone's space."

Fortune closed her eyes while Hippie held her. "Always a prissy little bitch, aren't you?"

Princess reacted to the word "prissy", closing her eyes halfway and frowning. "What was that?"

"I'm not gonna repeat myself, since you know what you heard. You hate being called that, right?"

"Shut up."

Hippie released Fortune. "Um, girls..."

"I got this, Hippie." Fortune retorted, moving closer to Princess again. "You're so full of yourself. Why not step off of your high horse and learn a little thing called respect?"

"Oh, I know what respect is... I just have my own way of showing it. I'd appreciate it if you'd respect that."

"Well I can't do that for such a stuck-up person..."

"Well, why the hell not? Why can't you respect me as I am?"

"Because I don't like you as you are! You have to EARN respect, not ask for it!" Fortune yelled.

Princess pushed back the hair that covered her right eye and then batted both her eyes. Suddenly, one of them turned a pale red and showed a bright wingspan-like symbol in the center. Princess also possessed a Geass.

"But I can demand it." she said.

Fortune quickly activated her Geass to counteract Princess's. "Now you know you can't use that on me."

"Who said I was using it on you?"

Hippie was slowly walking over to the purple bear in a sort of trance, being controlled all the while.

"Ugh!" Fortune uttered, jerking her head towards to the space between Hippie and Princess, breaking her hold on the bunny. She then, once again, put herself inches close to Princess. "Don't you ever do that to him again. I don't care if my seraph comes down to smite me; if you EVER use your Geass again on Hippie, I'll make you regret it."

Despite the serious warning, Princess scoffed, turning around after deactivating her Geass. She started off, walking towards the elevator to the roof of the Tower. "Come back to me when you can back those words up with some action. Better yet, get back to me when I CARE!"

Fortune gritted her teeth as she watched her enter the elevator with her own self-pride. _"Ugggh! That does it... that girl makes me so mad. She's gonna get hers."_ she thought in a mild rage.

"Ah, my head... what just happened?" Hippie openly asked.

"Hippie, if you can find out what channel the New 12 are on, then record the shows for me."

"Okay... but, I thought that you were going to handle that."

Fortune started off for the main Tower elevator. "My plans changed. I'm going to make an appeal to put myself in Friday's tournament... and 'Miss Prissy Pants' is coming with me. She needs to be put in her place. I'll make sure that I'm the one that's gonna do just that."

Hippie knew that Fortune meant business, so he let her go without a word of objection.

Waddle, the young penguin, stepped in on the bunny. "Dude... I saw the whole thing go down. Is she gonna be alright?" he asked.

"For everyone's sake, I hope so." Hippie answered.

* * *

_(Time: 11:40 AM. In the Mission Room of the Facility sector of Titans Tower-Home Base...)_

Sweet is alone inside of the Mission Room, awaiting the arrival of the rest of the Legendary 12 and Gigi. He paces back and forth, deep in thought of exactly what he wanted to discuss in this conference. There was so much on his mind that needed to be addressed. The UNLIMITED tournament on Friday, the advancement of the Bean Titans, Titans X's progress on the Moon Base, the absence of Wrinkle as of late, and even Bahamut Fury's attack last week. He began to wonder if he needed to prepare Gigi like he and the rest of the Legendary 12 prepared the New 12... but at the same time, he wanted to consider the things that she had in mind, if she had any ideas. It was tough to think about, but he only wants the best for not only Gigi, but for the entire Titans League.

The rest of the Legendary 12 soon entered the Mission Room and took specific places to sit or stand. Dotty and Spunky sat in chairs in front of a large computer screen, which displayed the Titans' previous successes. Hippity and Floppity stood and sat (respectively) in front of the holographic globe of Earth; it was their most "comfortable" place in the Mission Room. Mac stood alone, in one of the corners of the room, looking away from the rest. The other 6 of them took their designated seats around the conference table, to the right side of the room.

Sweet stopped pacing around and approached the table.

"Welcome everyone." he greeted, to start things off. "I take it that we all know what this meeting is for, right?"

"Um... I don't know about the rest of you, but I feel like I don't know how to sort everything out smoothly, at least not in my head." Canyon confessed.

The others sitting around the table agreed with the cougar.

Sweet snapped his fingers and gave out a sigh. "Tell me about it..." he said half-heartedly.

Mac shrugged, walking towards the table. "I had a feeling this conference would get off to a slow start, but I have a worse feeling telling me that somehow it's not going to go well for us."

"Mac... I'll admit you've been very omniscient lately, but now is NOT the time for that intuition of yours to come true. To no offense..." Dotty replied.

"None taken."

"Well, since Gigi isn't here yet, I guess we'll just touch on everything, one by one. This was supposed to be centered on her being a new leader and all, but for the time being, we'll save that for later. So I guess we'll start with the tournament... what did you all think of last night?" questioned Sweet.

"Oh, it was great!" Aurora exclaimed.

"And a bit surprising, to say the least... there were things I didn't think some of the Titans were capable of, and Gigi is only one of those Titans." Mystic added.

"Yeah. Scorch warned everyone from the beginning that he wasn't going to hold back, but I never knew Bronto could survive that long against him." noted Fleece.

"All of Scorch's opponents had to pull out all the stops." Spunky said.

"No kidding. Sweet, your sons sure do learn fast; Cheeks dodged through Scorch's Meteor Shower like nothing I've ever seen. Hoo-wee...!" Hippity acclaimed.

"And let's not forget about Jake. He's done things in all of his matches that... I don't think Mac could ever do." Kuku remarked.

Mac raised his eyebrow and crossed his wings. "No need to rub it in... but you're right. His Vortex Palm, the Time Warp, and that new power state of his, especially—I think that took everyone by surprise."

"Yes, all of that and more," began Sweet. "It's pleasing to hear that the Bean Titans are improving on their own more, and the results are often times staggering. Yes... but I am curious as to what some of the other Titans have found in their training."

"And that's the reasoning for the UNLIMITED Tournament on Friday, right?" Fancy figured.

"Yes. If at all possible, I would like to showcase as many new Titans that have not been in the contest as possible. And as far as the reward is concerned, I want the champion to decide that for his or herself. Of course, their decisions will have to be rationalized, if necessary."

"So what's next, Sweet?" asked Floppity, randomly flicking one of her ears.

_"Gigi isn't here yet..."_ Sweet thought to himself, noticing that the time was 11:52 AM.

"Sweet?" called the lavender bunny again.

"Oh, right. I guess the Moon Base is next off the top of my head. Has there been any news, Dotty?"

"The last thing heard from Lucky was that there was "no need" for a Danger Room up there." replied the dalmatian.

"Okay. You're kidding, right?" Canyon uttered.

"Lucky isn't the dishonest type, Canyon. Still, we were working on that for several years... I wonder what happened, or how this project of ours got discontinued. I'm sorry to say that I don't know any more details or further reasoning for this."

"Ah I see. I'll be sure to get to that tomorrow, along with the tournament plans." Sweet said, beginning to pace around again. The changes around the Titans League were making him and the rest of the Legendary 12 nervous.

"Another thing is a bit strange. Wrinkle hasn't showed his face anywhere or initiated any kind of trouble since the Heartless invaded." Mac pointed out.

"I can understand that," began Mystic. "My guess is that he's concerned about his how much time he has left to live. Think about it: he and the Syndicate carried out a deal for immortality, but it was really smoke and mirrors—the Acolytes themselves were their lifelines. Last time I checked, Team Z had gotten rid of ALL of the Acolytes recently... so I'm sure Wrinkle and whoever is still alive with him are trying their best not to jeopardize what's left of their time to live."

"As obnoxious as he is, I don't think Wrinkle cares about what happens to himself... I think he's still plotting to end us. That fact hasn't changed for the past 30-some years." Hippity generalized, crossing his arms and shaking his head.

"I'd like to believe that, but I still want to consider that he might be really concerned about himself and the few people he has left by his side. I mean, it's his LIFE that's on the line—something that he hasn't had to worry about for almost the past 7 to 8 years. It'd be stupid of him not to care." Fleece explained.

"That doesn't mean he's going to completely let us off the hook..." Sweet interrupted grumpily, before raising the wristwatch on his left arm. "He has a major vendetta on us for something he didn't get as a child; this gadget right here is the main reason why he despises me. He doesn't have exactly what we have and to this day, he doesn't understand that his own attitudes and decisions are what defeat him, **_(*pounds table*)_** TIME after TIME again! I would've made amends too... if he wasn't so stubborn and obstinate to begin with!"

There was silence for a few moments. In that silence, Gigi finally entered the Mission Room, right at 12:00 noon, sharp. She was signaled over to the table by Mystic, telepathically. The poodle remained silent along with the Legendary 12. She was actually waiting on the right time to speak.

"And what about the other troubles?" Mac questioned, wanting to move to another topic on behalf of Sweet.

"What are you saying?" Aurora responded, putting his hands under his chin.

"Tabuu and the Acolytes aren't included because they're confirmed as dead now. However, haven't you noticed that our enemies tend to come back for more? Wrinkle and his Syndicate have always come back, the Heartless we fought before kept coming back... we might as well jot down Bahamut Fury to the list too."

_"Oh my goodness, Mac..."_ Kuku thought, shaking her head solemnly.

"I don't even want to think about that monster." Hippity murmured.

"Mac... I swear, if you manage to jinx this sometime in the future, I withhold every right to slap you sideways." Mystic warned him, not wanting another one of his intuitions to come true.

The cardinal's eyebrows bounced, startled at the thought of that. "...Duly noted." he hesitated to say.

"Now, before we all get off on the wrong parallel, isn't this why we're training and preparing the rest of the Titans so much? Instilling them with advice, tactics and all sorts of things that could help them?" Dotty said.

"With a being that powerful, I don't think it would make much difference, even if he never came back for another 50 years..." Spunky claimed, accepting the fact that no one stood a chance against Bahamut Fury, not even if 30 Bean Titans were allied together against him.

"But if we don't stand against him, who will?"

"We won't last though. We're getting older, and the torch is already being passed down to the younger Titans here... namely, the New 12." claimed Kuku.

"And have we done a good job of that?" Sweet asked.

"Why would you say that, Sweet? Of course we did—we spent an entire month trying to think about who were the best fit as leaders and how well those leaders could cooperate with each other!" Aurora retorted.

"If that was our best, then why did we run over milestones trying to get them all to be unified as a team?" Fancy said, standing up with her fists on the table. "It wasn't going to take a day, maybe not even a week... but for them still have problems after training down at the Antarctic Base, after saving our skins at every Tower around Earth, after finally coming together to topple Tabuu, after rising to the Heartless occasion, and after saving my son from making the biggest mistake of his life? All of those were taxing bumps in the road and they still aren't 100% ready... and they're off on an island right now, doing who-knows-what! What all have we accomplished with our progress with them? What have we done that was right?"

_(BGM: "Dissolved Girl" — Massive Attack. Gigi's selected theme in the Titans.)_

"Absolutely nothing." Gigi finally spoke, standing up and walking away from the table and towards the holographic globe. Those two words stopped all of the stressed worries of the 12 living legends.

"What...?" uttered Dotty, who was awestruck by her answer.

"I stand by what I said... nothing. I actually had one idea I wanted to bring to this conference, but apparently I can't get to that until I address everything I've heard since I came in. Sweet, the speech that you made before the final match last night had me thinking ever since. Yes, it was inspiring... but there were certain things that you said that presented deeper ideas—ideas that I wish to exploit because they have great impact on our future. **Subject #1)** We are the Bean Titans—heroes who will stop at nothing to bring peace and justice, no matter who or what we're up against. If Bahamut Fury actually is still alive somehow and he shows himself or gives us some kind of warning, we WILL be ready. Yes, it will be extremely tough, but we will be victorious at the end of the day. **Subject #2)** Kuku is halfway right: you 12 are getting older, even as we all encounter trouble every now and then... but you say the torch is being passed down to us. To be perfectly honest, we are already holding it. Ever since Scaly went to Wrinkle, we've had a great handle on the responsibility because you weren't there to intervene on what many of us have had to experience. Think of all the times you weren't there. Scaly's departure from us: Slowpoke had suffered dearly from very fatal wounds, Crunch endured a stab through his body, Chipper, Megan and Fortune fought being blacked out in different ways, and Sly fought his heart out for Scaly and still lived. Rescuing Durango and Tina: Scorch and the rest of Team Z didn't just take on Wrinkle's gang, but disposed of 3 Acolytes also... and they ALL survived. The New 12's 1st training session: believe it or not, I was the one that convinced them to start working as a team when I was sent there. Trust me, they were pretty dysfunctional. And I'm sure you've seen the just about everything from Subspace all the way to the encounter with Bahamut Fury, thanks to the Memory Room. We have already been through many life-and-death situations, and most of the time, we were unprepared. But through hard work, perseverance and survival, we have made everything work out... WITHOUT prior input from anyone else."

The Legendary 12 still remained silent, trying to take everything in.

"Which finally brings me to **subject #3**, the point I wanted to get to." Gigi started out, taking her seat again on the conference table. "Before you all decided on creating a New 12, everyone has been in the developmental stages. Some were higher up the ladder than others... and some were already there, but were not picked to be the lucky 12 Bean Titans in action today. Here's the thing I really wanted to talk about. Mooch, Sly, Hoppity, Ewey, Slowpoke, Bongo, Ears, Felix, Bonnie, Lucy, Christina and Megan... the New 12. They are the ones that are in the best position to take over when your time comes to an end, so that they will be the new leaders to carry on the Titans' legacy for the next generation. That means they have a new meaning of responsibility different from all the rest of the Bean Titans... including the Legendary 12. You can still have your judgements about them, but the fact that you have directly intervened on their own progress has ruined what they have come to be."

"Wait.. how can you say that? We've been trying to help them, and give them any pointers or advice that is relevant at the time." Fleece questioned.

"I'm still hexed about how you told us that we've done absolutely nothing right with them. There's no way that's true!" Canyon added.

"What reason could possibly explain that answer, Gigi?" Dotty interrogated, as even she was confused with this.

"You mean you don't notice?" Gigi wondered, looking off.

"Notice what?" Mac asked.

The poodle looked back with a stern face. "You're collectively making them more and more into a replica that is the spitting image of you all... the Legendary 12."

That answer stunned everyone, even Sweet. This was their first true realization of their influence on the New 12, and it made them rethink on how they have been evaluating the young Titans.

_"My God..."_ Sweet internally thought, with no room for words at the thought of her answer.

Gigi continued. "I'm not saying that they should forget what you've taught them or forget about the other Titans... but a designated team should have to work on their own designated problems, no matter how ample or limited their time is. Your decision to make them a team truly said that they are the best to take lead for the future of the Bean Titans. So why should you have to step in and interfere with their progress? They are already more than ready; the fact that you keep experimenting with them is getting in the way of what they can truly make of themselves. Think about it."

Expressions of confusion swept the faces of all the Legendary 12 members, leaving many of them downright speechless.

"Well... does anyone have anything to say about this? I'm lost for words here." Sweet uttered.

"No clue... I think I speak for everyone when I say that this is new to us, and I think she's on point." Dotty replied, before the other 10 answered in agreement with that statement.

"Well then, I have only one thing to ask you, Gigi. The way you've come to us and said your piece is telling me that you have definitely changed, and that you must have something to request of us—something other than asking us to take the New 12 seriously and stop directing them. So... what is it that you yourself ask of us to do?"

The poodle stood up and walked toward the door of the Mission Room, about to exit. She then turned around to assume the Titan's Salute before speaking. "I'm still deciding who I want on my team. But I ask if you would please leave my team to me and who I choose to be in it. I'm not saying that what you're doing is wrong, but it doesn't have the most positive effect on a unit that is supposed to work together. So please, when the time comes, let my team be my priority."

Sweet walked up to Gigi and then answered her Salute with his own again. "Understood... Captain Gigi Morreaux."

It was shocking to everyone how Gigi presented herself to them in the conference. She had the tenacity to lay down her OWN law, even in front of the highest authorities in the Bean Titans.

Suddenly, a beeper went off on the screen that Dotty and Spunky were looking at before.

"What's that, Dotty?" asked Spunky.

"A reminder for Sweet. _(reading)_ "The Griffin family is coming at 2:00" this afternoon?"

"Ahh, I forgot about that! Plus I still need to plan out the tournament and get everything in order." the orangutan exclaimed.

"I think I can handle that for you." Gigi offered, wanting to take some responsibility already.

"Are you sure?"

"Sure. I don't have much to do today, other than to think about who I think would be the best teammates for me."

"All right then." Sweet responded, appreciating her humbleness.

Gigi finally took her leave.

_(The music fades away.)_

"Well now, it looks like we have a lot to think about..." Aurora stated.

"It appears I was right about the meeting. After listening to her, I'd say that we really are at fault for realizing this now... and not earlier." Mac summated.

"What do we do now?" questioned Mystic.

"We do what Gigi told us to do: think about it, and while we're thinking, don't interfere with the New 12's progress," began Sweet. "Keep what she said in your minds because we, the Legendary 12, will have another conference next Monday. At that time, we will have made a decision on what more we want of the New 12 before we break whatever holds we have on them. Until then, making preparations for Friday at the Titans Metropolis is our primary objective. Is that clear?"

The others understood, as this meeting came to a close.

**/-/**

**Gigi's on a roll, isn't she? She surprises people everywhere she goes, and it seems as if she already has what it takes to take charge as a leader. How will everyone else respond to this? We just might find out.. next chapter.**


	11. The Snow Princess

**AN: References used [previously]: Teen Titans, Justice League Unlimited, Final Fantasy (VII: Crisis Core, X, & XII), Marvel/X-Men, Pokémon, Kids Next Door, Dragonball Z, Capcom, Naruto, WWE, TNA Impact, Family Guy, Bleach, Code Geass, Sonic Adventure 2, Xiaolin Showdown, Bakugan Battle Brawlers, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and One Piece.  
In this chapter: **_nothing new_**.**

Chapter 11 — The Snow Princess

_(Time: 2:00 PM, Tuesday afternoon.)_

Sweet decided earlier to have Mystic accompany Gigi to the main entrance of the Tower, where they would expect the Griffin family to enter. Getting there, Mystic then told Gigi that she would be her guide with the tour, if she ever needed help at some points. Dotty had set up an auto-teleport for the family—from the Titans Metropolis to the Home Base, their current location.

Mystic was still thinking about the things Gigi said in the conference. Despite how extreme it all sounded, Gigi made nothing but valid points in nearly every sentence she spoke. The unicorn was also felt a bit apprehensive towards Gigi's demands about not interfering with not only the New 12, but Gigi herself as well. Now, as the poodle's guide in the tour of the Home Base, she felt that she needed to stay quiet because she did not want to disrespect Gigi's initiative to do this.

"TRESPASSER ALERT! TRESPASSER ALERT! ALL TITANS ON HIGH ALERT!" sounded an alarm all through the Tower.

Gigi was startled, covering her ears. "That can't be a serious alarm..." she uttered.

"It isn't." Mystic responded, closing her eyes to tap into her psychic power. She was searching outside of the Tower for anyone strange. "There's no one attacking, and I can sense Chris and his family at the door. Just wait for Dotty to cancel the alarm..."

Soon enough, Dotty was heard on the PA system after the noise stopped. "False alarm, everyone! My apologies!" she spoke. She then opened the entry door at the base of the Tower.

The Griffin family was revealed to the two Titans in the Main Hall. Chris stood in the front, wearing his blue T-shirt, black pants and baseball cap from last night. Behind him were his parents: his dad was big and stout, wearing glasses with a button-down white shirt and green pants; and his mother, who was had a slightly slender figure with red hair and wore a light green button-down top with khaki pants and purple flats. There was also a young girl who appeared to be Chris's sister, wearing a magenta shirt with blue pants. She was next to a white dog with a red collar, and a toddler boy wearing a long-sleeve yellow shirt under red overalls.

_"Go ahead, welcome them."_ Mystic told Gigi, telepathically. She did not want to step in just yet, unless she had to.

She stepped forward, with a smile. "Greetings! Welcome to Titans Tower, home of the Bean Titans! Come in, come in! You must be the Griffin family."

"We are," replied Lois, Chris's mother. "And you must be Gigi... good to see you up close and in person! I want to congratulate you on your big win last night!"

"Oh, thank you! I'm just getting started, that's all."

"Well, you certainly deserve it."

"So who all do we have here?"

Lois proceeded then to introduce her family. "This is my husband, Peter; our kids—Chris, Meg and Stewie; and our dog, Brian."

"Does Brian have powers, like I do?" Gigi asked, considering Brian to be a "humanimal".

"Well, I can speak... and sometimes sing, if you consider that a talent. But no, not superpowers. Not anymore." Brian responded.

"Yeah that's right, we all had powers about a year ago," began Peter, giving out a pleasant sigh. "Ah, those were the days. I used to transform into all sorts of things... it was fantastic."

"I burned things!" Chris exclaimed happily.

"I scratched things!" Meg announced in the same fashion.

Chris leered at Meg. "Shut up, Meg..."

"I had super-strength," said Lois, "Brian got super-speed, and Stewie had telekinesis."

Mystic sprung up, hearing her talent. "He did?"

"Yes, I could've taken possession of your horn and shoved it somewhere quite unpleasant if I wanted." Stewie said, putting it in perspective.

"That's a little underhanded, don't you think?" replied Brian.

"Not as underhanded as the time I was playing Hoops with the guys again..."

_(A flashback momentarily changed the entire scene. Stewie was playing basketball with a few black males, and soon got called on for a foul. Stewie, with his powers, responded by dropping the pants of all the members of the opposing team and called that "foul".)_

"Wow, he speaks pretty well for his age..." Gigi marveled.

"How ironic... I should be saying that about you. You're a dog, and younger than "Old Spot" here (Brian) I see. What are you, 3?"

"Um... I age normally, like a human. I'm 19."

He wore a crooked smile. "Ah, you hear that Brian? She's going to outlive you."

Brian lowered his eyes, not amused by the information that Stewie elicited from Gigi.

"Okay... well I volunteered myself to give you all a tour of the Tower. Mystic is here to help me out. Is that all right?" Gigi asked.

"That sounds lovely. Where to first?" Lois answered.

"Follow me, please."

Gigi and Mystic led the family towards the Garage first, heading through a door to the left of the Main Hall, and going through the basement. Brian and Stewie walked in the back of the group to have a private conversation.

"So what do ya think, Brian?"

"Think of what?" replied the dog.

"Of Gigi, man! She's young, yes, but she looks pretty cute, doesn't she?"

Brian gave a disturbed look. "What are you, crazy!? She's almost twice my height!"

"Well, that's never stopped you before! I say go for it. She's French..." Stewie edged on, continuing to persuade Brian into flirting with Gigi.

"I don't really, uh, have a thing for dogs with dark fur."

"Mm-hmm, I see. Well, at least you didn't say 'black'."

"Yeah, I use that towards celebrities, athletes, or entertainers. Dark fur just isn't my preference."

"Ah okay. I was about to call that a racist remark for a second there, ha ha."

There was a pause in the conversation.

"You know what they say, Brian... once you go black, you don't go back." asked Stewie.

"I thought that was just a black guy thing." murmured Brian.

Stewie sighed. "You've GOT to get out more."

* * *

The Griffins actually really enjoyed the entire tour; there were lots of things to see, and a few of those things really caught their eyes. Gigi actually did a pretty good job being a tour guide. Mystic was impressed, to say the least. Watching Gigi at work gave the unicorn a clearer sense that Gigi was already ready for leadership.

Mystic took her leave once the tour ended in the grand living room, which was where Peter feasted his eyes on the gigantic 30-foot plasma screen TV. He only stood and watched.

"He's gonna be there for a while, isn't he?" Meg wondered.

"Yep. Okay, let's all get settled into the Suites." Lois told her family. Only Meg and Chris followed her.

"Is there anything else?" Gigi asked Brian.

"Yeah, just a fair warning. Stewie might be interested in all that technology you guys had downstairs."

The poodle was confused. "Why would he be curious about that? Does he even understand how those things work?"

"Oh, trust me... he knows."

"What are you waiting for, 'Fido'?! Get in the damn elevator!" Stewie called out.

"Oh my…" Gigi murmured.

"Yeah, you'll get used to his words faster than Peter can stop watching a boring movie." Brian said.

_(Another flashback. This time, Peter is sitting in a movie theater with about 50 other people. When the first long sentence of the entire movie was heard at the beginning, Peter stood and shouted "Done!", walking out of the theater afterwards.)_

"Well, let's not make him upset then..."

Gigi and Brian stepped in the elevator with Stewie and went back down to the Facility.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

The three of them made their way to the Danger Room, where there were many of the Bean Titans waiting to use time for training and sparring. It was apparent that they were all determined to hone their skills and perform at their best before TUE on Friday, whether they would be in the UNLIMITED tournament or not.

"Excellent. It seems we have a full house. This is exactly what I wanted to see." Stewie said.

"A bunch of super-powered animals?" Brian guessed.

The toddler put his hands together and twiddled his fingers. "Not necessarily, Brian. I wanted to see more of their glorious bouts—their fighting amuses me... yes."

"Well we came to the right place for that." Gigi stated.

Dotty was sitting in her chair, in front of the control panel of the Danger Room. She turned around to see the 3 latest visitors. "Ah, welcome." she greeted.

The other Titans around the control center noticed Gigi, before becoming even more anxious to get into the Danger Chamber. They wanted to impress Gigi and convince her to pick on them to be a part of her future team.

"Okay. That scares me." Gigi said, looking at the Titans looking at her every now and then.

Dotty shrugged. "I'd get used to it. Since you're a new leader, everyone's going to want to catch your attention one way or another."

"I don't want them to impress me. They should worry about themselves and let me think on them on my own."

"Well, as I know you now, I can say that you'll be fine. The last time you got glares like this was a negative vibe. It is a positive one now, so you should feel more fortunate than apprehensive."

"I suppose so." Gigi replied, taking the spotted academic's words to heart.

Stewie tapped Brian's shoulder. "Hey, what about her?" he whispered in his ear, talking about Dotty.

"Are you still trying to set me up?" Brian retorted in a low tone. "She's married, you idiot. Just give it up—I'm not going to fall for any of the bitches you keep pointing out! And for your information, "bitches" also means female dogs."

"I know... what it means." said Stewie, with a narrow-eyed glare and a slight frown.

Suddenly, the Bean Titans in attendance all got an alert on their wristwatches. It was Sweet speaking:  
**"Attention, all Bean Titans. As you know, I am still in the midst of preparations for Friday night. Rest assured, that's not what this announcement is about. I wasn't expecting this, but we have a new arrival, all the way from Milan, Italy in the building. In other words, a new Titan has joined our team! She wants to be called only by her first name, but for identification purposes, I will give out her full identity now. Her name is Princess L'Amore Téa Bianco. Yes, she is actually royalty, but she prefers not to be treated as such. Nevertheless, she should be coming to the Danger Room any moment now for her tests. Mac is escorting her. Sweet, over and out."**

Some of the other Bean Titans decided to await the arrival of L'Amore, to see what she looked like. They also wondered what her powers were, but of course, they wouldn't know that until she stepped in the Danger Chamber.

"Ah, Italy! Sounds nice. She'd be the first Italian Bean Titan, if the records are correct. It's strange though, I figured that the watches Sweet sent were all found. I guess there was another." Dotty spoke out, looking into her files.

"L'Amore huh? I guess we should go with the flow here and wait on her." Brian uttered.

"Yes, let us add another animal to the mix here. We got monkeys, rabbits, birds, dogs, bears, and a whole mess of others in this room."

"Eh.. the proper term is "humanimal", Stewie." Dotty pointed out.

"Yeah, yeah... whatever."

Gigi was slightly stunned, with a side of joy, at the announcement. _"That name..."_ she thought, _"there's no way she's actually here, is she? I gotta see this with my own eyes."_ Gigi then stepped towards the door, wanting to be the first one to lay eyes on the new Bean Titan.

After about 10 more seconds, the entrance shutter door finally opened. Mac was visible on the other side.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Miss L'Amore." the cardinal announced, gesturing in a way to welcome the new Titan into the room.

Coming around the left side of the door was a snow white poodle with more posh to her appearance than Gigi did. Some of her fur was more fluffy in certain parts of her body than all the rest: around her wrists, ankles, tail, upper torso (chest, shoulders and upper back), ears, and her hair—some of which veiled over most of her right eye, while the rest of it was medium-short cut, but looked like a soft cotton ball cloud all around. She was about 3 inches shorter than Gigi (who stood at 5'4"). Her eyes were cyan, a few shades lighter and slightly greener than Gigi's eyes. In a similar fashion to Gigi's red bows, L'Amore had on light pink bows where her ears met her head. She was wearing a light pink winter beret with a white top and a short pink skirt to match. As an extra accessory, she also wore a pink collar, which was studded with fuchsia beads all around it.

At the very sight of her, Gigi instantly expressed her happiness in seeing her. "Oh my goodness, you're here! Hey!" she exclaimed, going in for a hug.

"Gigi? Is that really you?" L'Amore replied, answering the embrace with her arms, which were now around the black poodle. She had a light, angelic voice with a strong Italian accent, uniquely pronouncing every word she says.

"Yes! How've you been? It's been so long, cousin!"

There was clamoring among a few of the Bean Titans in the room when Gigi mentioned that L'Amore was her cousin.

"Wow, small world, eh Brian? ...Brian?" Stewie called out.

The dog was found flat on his back on the ground.

"Oh. _(aside)_ NOW he reacts to a bitch... _(aloud)_ Well, if you'll excuse us. He hasn't been spayed and neutered yet. We're still working on getting that fixed. Carry on." said Stewie to everyone, dragging Brian out of the Danger Room.

_(After a short moment of silence...)_

"So, what brought you here?" Gigi asked.

"It was the same way it happened to you. I found my powers, then found the watch, then found America, and now I'm here. I took a plane by myself, and now that I'm 18, I can make my own "royal decrees" and live my life. I'll miss the palace, but I guess if I have this gift, then I might as well use it." L'Amore told her.

"That's why we're all here," began Dotty. "There's always room for improvement. It might not be easy, but the ending results are well worth it. Welcome to the life of a Bean Titan, L'Amore."

The white poodle took in a breath. "I'm ready."

"Good. Now let me tell you what you'll be doing here. This is the Danger Room, where we train by running simulations, practicing a few techniques, or simply engaging in combat with other Bean Titans. For your tests, we'll be doing all three. Please, go ahead and proceed into the Chamber through that elevator."

L'Amore followed the dalmatian's directions and walked over to the elevator. She passed by various Bean Titans on the way, and among the crowd of them, a majority of the males were enamored by the sight of her up-close. Some of them thought that she was simply adorable considering her size and looks, while quite a few others took it a step further and described her as gorgeous or beautiful. She was just as attractive as Hoppity (in the New 12) was, and there was something special about her that charmed nearly everyone around her. It was a palpable feeling... but it was difficult to really and truly understand exactly what it was.

Soon enough, L'Amore stood alone in the center of the Danger Chamber.

"All right then." Dotty began to speak on the Danger Room's mic. "Before I give you the first simulation, how about you tell us what your powers are or what you're good at? I need to record a few things."

"Okay. Well, I call myself the "Snow Princess" because I have the talents and skills with ice, snow, hail—anything of the sort. I love snow, and I have fun with it. What else...? I know how to fight—I'm just not the strongest hitter, that's all. And I think I'm pretty fast and good at dodging things with, how you say, my reflexes." L'Amore replied.

Rocket scoffed. "Sounds like a challenge to me," he spoke out.

"Man, that accent of hers is so sexy..." Tracker uttered to himself.

Tiny, his chihuahua girlfriend, pinched him. "And a Spanish one isn't?"

"I never said that! Chill out, girl!"

Dotty lowered her eyebrows at the three of them, before putting her attention back on L'Amore. "Okay good! There are actually quite a few Titans here with the ice element. You should seek them out and maybe you'll get a few pointers from them. But I digress. All right, I think we're ready to move into the first test." Dotty announced.

All the Bean Titans in attendance were watching intently. Gigi went and stood next to Dotty's seat to see how the status boards worked while her cousin was in the Danger Chamber. Tina, of Team Z, also stood nearby because she was happy for the fact that she wasn't the only female with ice powers in the Titans anymore.

"All right, I'm ready!" L'Amore exclaimed.

"That's the spirit! Okay. For your first test, I just want you to practice a few of your moves so I can get a good reading on your power level. I will actually be reading your power level throughout this whole process. Seeing as though this is your first time, it should not be that high. So when you're ready, go ahead and give it all you've got."

_(Background music (BGM): "Cerobi Steppe" — Final Fantasy XII.)_

At that moment, L'Amore backed a few steps away from the center of the Chamber. To start out her practice session, she touched her lips with two fingers as if she was about to blow a kiss. She instead created a snowflake, which levitated over the tips of her fingers. L'Amore could blow that snowflake to any desired position and at any speed she wanted to. Here, she made it fly slowly until it was over the center of the Danger Chamber, where it would begin to spin in that position. She then closed her eyes and lifted her head—which was one of the many ways she could use Icy Wind, to summon a super-cold gale of wind. The freezing air spun the snowflake even faster and caused it to release snow everywhere.

Everyone watching was very interested in what L'Amore was doing. It was like she was creating her own atmosphere and "having fun with it" like she said before.

"Okay L'Amore," began Dotty, "I have a read for your power at 6,000 BEANs... in Sacred Power range—which is actually pretty good. I'll let you know what that all means later. All right, here comes the next test. You'll be going up against Danger Drones, which are basically the test dummy machines here. Unless challenged beforehand, every Bean Titan has had to test these out before advancing to the next phase of training, which is fighting against other Bean Titans. With a reading of 6,000 BEANs, you should be able to handle the expert level Drones. We'll start you off against one of them, okay?"

"Okay." L'Amore replied.

The Drone showed up in the center of the Chamber, turning itself so it could locate the white poodle. It was designed for speed, so it would try and dash towards L'Amore and get a quick attack in. The drone uttered, "Destroy!" before it decided to make its first dash.

To be a bit stylish, L'Amore dodged the speedy attack by performing a 360 degree spin away from the Drone's path, like an ice skater.

"That's a new way to dodge..." Tina murmured, looking on.

The Drone came back around with a second attack. This time, L'Amore made the same kind of dodging maneuver, but did a double (720 degree spin) instead.

"If she keeps dodging like that, that Drone's gonna catch on. She won't like it when it gets smart on her," stated Rocket, chuckling a little afterwards.

"Hush. Just watch." Gigi told him.

The practice dummy turned around and locked-on to the white poodle, before firing an energy ball at her.

"Three strikes. You're out." uttered L'Amore, as she prepared her spin jump again.

Rocket appeared to be right, however... because the Drone picked up enough intelligence to predict her method of dodging. In action, it zoomed into close quarters, once the energy ball was within one foot of her.

That was when something remarkable finally happened. Before the Danger Drone could get an attack in, L'Amore was already one step ahead, appearing in mid-spin behind it. She followed through with her spin by executing a roundhouse kick while her leg was equipped with a casing of ice. When the Drone was hit, it shattered to pieces along with the ice on the poodle's leg. This was her Icebreaker Kick.

_(BGM stops.)_

This left many of the Bean Titans watching utterly surprised.

"Now that's what I call an icebreaker..." Tina marveled.

"Forget the ice..." began Jake, who was standing next to Tina. "What was that movement she did? It was like Flash Step, but there was something that made it seem almost instantaneous... like Fortune's Shadow Dance when she's in Seraph Mode, or my Eight Trigrams Time Warp."

Dotty was also shocked a little, after seeing the statistics change. She turned on the mic. "Wow L'Amore... that was really good! Highest reading I got from you there was almost 8,000 BEANs, which is about the level of a few of the Titans watching you right now." she announced.

"So she's already on the Legendary level of power? That's great!" Gigi exclaimed.

"All right," Dotty started to speak. "Seeing how you took care of one Danger Drone, I'm gonna go ahead and have you try your hand at 10 of them at the same time. You don't have to take them all down if you don't want to, I just need to see how long you can survive in a minute against them. This is the latest test that a Bean Titan can opt to attempt, before taking on a challenge from another Bean Titan. Are you ready?"

"Yes." L'Amore replied.

_(BGM change: "Quincy's Craft" — Bleach.)_

As spoken, ten more Danger Drones appeared all around the Danger Chamber, all of which would attack L'Amore in different ways. Some of the Titans doubted that she would be able to slay all of them, as they were the expert level bots—which were not pushovers.

They all charged in for her, while she did nothing more than bend down in a particular stance and touch the ground with two fingers from her right hand.

**"Arctic Bind."** L'Amore uttered, just before any of the ten bots made their attacks. At her words, thin trails of baby blue light suddenly appeared from her position and swiftly traveled to touch the feet of each bot; the light trails re-materialized into frost upon contact. All of the legs of the Drones were also instantly trapped by very thick and cold "cones" of ice, completely immobilizing them. Once this was clearly seen by everyone watching, L'Amore then gave off an icy aura, levitating herself up to the altitude of the snowflake she originally placed hovering in the Chamber. It finally stopped spinning. The poodle then gave off a cute giggle before executing her next move. **"White Whirl!"** she then called out. With this technique, the snowflake zoomed up and quickly multiplied exponentially, to the point where there appeared to be a massive cloud of snow taking up nearly all of the Danger Chamber's ceiling. The cloud then engulfed the entire playing field in a large and heavy snowstorm, where the snowflakes turned razor sharp and cut the Drones to shreds. The power behind this technique alarmed her audience, as the floor of the Chamber was covered in about 6 inches of snow.

"Whoa," Tina uttered. "I've never seen anything like that... not from Chilly, Waddle, Aurora, or even Ears. Dotty, I don't think she'll be needing very many pointers."

"I'll say." Dotty began, with her jaw partially dropped. The mic was off. "These results I'm seeing are staggering."

Rocket scoffed again. This time, he walked towards the elevator.

"Where are you going?" Gigi asked.

"Her last challenge is going up against one of us. The fact she said that she was good at dodging has me all testy. All she's doing is spinning away from attacks. With my speed, I could catch her before she even touches the ground. So I'm going in."

"There's something you should consid—" Dotty spoke up.

"Not alone, you won't!" interrupted the puffin twins, Puffer and Puffina, who flew to stand on both sides of Rocket.

"I WANT to challenge her alone." Rocket told them.

"Come on, Rocket! You never let us do anything..." Puffer (his girlfriend) said.

"And let's face it," started Puffina. "Anytime you challenge someone by yourself, your speed gets put to shame. Hippie did that, Megan did that, and Gigi just recently did that." She turns around. "What do you say, Jabber? You're usually with us on these kinds of things."

Many of the Bean Titans looked at the red parrot, who looked at his girl when his name was called. "I... kinda wanted to hear what Dotty wanted us to consider." he said, dissenting from their call to action.

Rocket lowered his eyes. "Well I don't. Come on, girls."

The three birds proceeded into the elevator, on their way inside the snow-covered Danger Chamber to confront and challenge L'Amore.

Dotty sighed. "Suit yourselves..." she murmured, turning in her seat and then turned the mic on. "L'Amore, you're doing great. Your final test is coming through the elevator now. Not one, but three other Titans are challenging you. All I have to say is do your best and show them what you've got."

The white poodle, standing in the center of the Chamber, turned to the elevator. She then saw the blue jay and twin puffins step out of it. Rocket took a couple of steps forward, while Puffer and Puffina surrounded L'Amore on both sides.

"So you think you can move, huh?" Rocket began to say to the canine. "You think that all that gracefulness and your icy antics are gonna make you untouchable right now? Pfft. As your first challenger—"

"Rocket...!" the puffin twins retorted simultaneously, raising their voices as a warning to Rocket. They didn't want him to hog all the attention.

"Okay fine! As your challengers, we want to warn you to not get in over your head, princess. Don't expect this to be a walk in the park, even if you're just facing one of us!"

L'Amore paused to sigh. "I don't know very much about American phrases, but I do understand what you said. But I must tell you—I'm not the one that should be careful around here," she told the three of them, while a soft, cold breeze moved in the air inside the Danger Chamber.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Rocket sneered.

"I won't say another word until this challenge is over, so until you're through talking, I'll be at the ready."

The poodle then closed her eyes and lifted her face towards the ceiling.

"For a newbie, she's got a lot of spunk..." Puffina uttered.

"Can she back that spunk up, I wonder?" Puffer added.

Rocket flew upward. "She'd better HOPE SO!" he shouted, prompting his high-speed Aerial Ace attack. This time, he had a little more power and speed behind it than the last time, when he tried to use it against Gigi.

**"Airvoyance."** L'Amore called out aloud with a whisper-like sound, just before Rocket flew down close to the ground to make his mad dash. Her eyes still remained shut.

Rocket saw this, and remembered back to his match against Gigi. "Oh no, you aren't fooling me!" he shouted, performing a Flash Step in an effort to confuse her.

He was expecting to ambush her from behind... until he quickly realized that HE was the one that was getting surprised. As soon as he had finished his Flash movement, L'Amore was found right over him, securing his expanded wings by her own hands in a handstand-like manner, showing incredible balance. She then flipped off of him, causing him to crash to the ground and roll several feet. Rocket's all-powerful Aerial Ace had been thwarted again.

The puffin twins were awestruck, wondering what in the heck just happened.

"No way..." Rocket murmured, looking back at the poodle, who still was not relying on her eyes to counter him.

"Rocket! Your wings!" Puffer exclaimed.

The blue jay looked at his wings and noticed that they both were growing colder and beginning to freeze up. His feathers had icicles on them.

"Aah!" he yelled out. "Why is it freezing up?"

"It is my **Tundra Touch**," called L'Amore, who decided not to open her eyes until she felt that she was finished fighting. She stood in the center of the Chamber again. "While my hands are super-cold, if I can touch you once on any part of your body, then you will start to freeze up more and more, until your whole body is covered in frost. If I were you, I'd quit now and get warmed up... because that's the only way the ice will go away."

"Let's get her. We aren't as fast as Rocket, but she can't keep up with both of us." Puffina figured, as she and her sister began to fly around the Danger Chamber.

They both would occasionally swoop in and try to get a few hits in on L'Amore in different ways. It did not seem to matter, however, as neither one of them could even touch her throughout the first 30 seconds. She was still getting around them, either avoiding their attacks normally or using Airvoyance, which instantly places her anywhere she wanted to be in the air. Even against the fast puffin twins, the poodle would not open her eyes.

Rocket growled, before turning his eyes towards the control center. "Dotty.. tell Jabber to get his ass in here and defrost me!"

In the audience, still, the parrot hesitated to move.

"What's wrong?" the dalmatian asked him, off the mic.

"What was it that you wanted to tell them, before they went in?" asked Jabber.

"Well, I was about to say that someone strong should challenge L'Amore... like Scorch, Jake, or Roam. At that moment, after she had used White Whirl, her power broke the 9,000 mark. And now, her results say that she's a bit over 10,000 BEANs... and it's still rising slightly. So if anyone has a chance against her, it would only be a certain few Bean Titans; Gigi would be one of them."

Jabber walked to the elevator. "Then... I'll just go in to thaw out Rocket, and try to convince him to stop fighting her." The elevator came up and he went inside, burning up his wings a little bit to get them hot enough to defrost his friend.

"I don't get it," Jake uttered. "How is she able to dodge like that? Her eyes are closed, and she's still virtually untouchable against the quickest Titans. And those instant Flash Steps she's making are faster than anything I've seen before. Is she psychic? If not, then what can explain her evasiveness?"

"It's Haki," Gigi proclaimed, having studied her cousin's movements closely throughout her first Danger Room session.

"What?" Tracker said, bulging his eyes for a second.

"Yes, I'm sure of it. I saw Armament Haki when she touched Rocket's wings out of the blue earlier, through his Aerial Ace... but I think it's a lot more evident that Observation Haki is what she's using. Pure spirit instinct is what it is; even if your eyes are closed, you are able to see every attack before it even comes into contact of you, regardless of where it's coming from—and she's demonstrating that perfectly, at a master level. She is psychic, but in the sense that her Observation Haki is unmatched in skill... and to be honest, it's much better than mine. Unless you're lucky and quick enough, you would have to put her under a huge, constant wall of ranged attacks to have a good chance of getting a hit in."

"Gracious... well, hopefully Jabber can stop Rocket before he gets himself a case of frostbite." Dotty said, turning back to look at the action inside the Chamber.

The Bean Titans watching saw that L'Amore (still with closed eyes) was part mage as well, when Puffer and Puffina were both hit with 3 Blizzaga spells at the same time.

"Hurry up!" Rocket exclaimed at Jabber, who was warming up the blue jay's wings to the point where most of the frost was dissipating.

"Listen man," the parrot whispered, "you need to get out of here."

"Why should I? You know I don't like it when my speed is stopped like that... so I'm gonna make sure she regrets ever doing that to me!" Rocket began to gather energy to use Aqua Jet, with his wings beginning to be covered in water. He flew a few feet before Jabber suddenly stopped him with a small blaze of fire in front of him. Jabber, who was just as fast as Rocket, then flew in front of him and expanded his wings to bar his passage.

_"Was that fire?!"_ L'Amore thought, turning her head in distraction.

Puffer noticed that she was off-guard, so she told her sister that it was time to strike. The two of them flew in side-by-side, crossed their inside wings with each other, put energy into them until they glowed bright, and then used their outside wings to flap powerful gusts of air at L'Amore. The puffins seemed to have wind as their element. Some of the Titans in the audience saw her head turn as well, right after Jabber used a spot of fire.

L'Amore felt the air, as she sensed the twins coming her way, but at a slower pace. She quickly regained her focus._ "No, I have to get out of here now. Playtime is over."_

"Her head's still turned—we have her this time, Puffer!" Puffina said.

Right before the puffin twins made contact, the poodle had disappeared. She came back into sight, reappearing behind the two of them and firing a nonchalant Flash Freeze—a large snowflake that was so cold, that it could halt nearly every physical movement of one's body. Since the puffins were touching wings, they both felt the effects of this and crashed into the wall of the Danger Chamber.

"Hey, that's my move! Yay, I'm not the only one that knows it now!" Waddle happily acclaimed from the audience.

"R-R-Rocket... we c-c-c-can't get up!" Puffina told him with her teeth chattering from the cold of the Flash Freeze snowflake.

"D-d-d-don't fight her!" Puffer added.

Rocket shot out a spurt of water at Jabber to move him out of the way. "Stop telling me to call it quits!" he shouted, taking fast flight once more, now fully immersed in a pod of water. "Aqua Jet!"

L'Amore then motioned her hands until she was pointing with one of them, as if she were shooting a gun. She was aiming right at Rocket.

A beeping sound went off on the status boards that Dotty was monitoring. She checked what the beeping was for, and as a response to it, she only gasped.

"What is it?" Gigi asked Dotty.

"Just watch what happens when someone doesn't listen to me..."

Rocket finally flew in for the white poodle. "Take this!"

The battle was over once L'Amore finally opened her cyan eyes, looking directly at the charging blue jay. She then called out the words **"Ice Beam"**, and on her call, a powerful, super-fast cerulean beam that resembled a pair of lightning bolts shot out from her fingertips. Ice Beam is actually a common move among all the Titans with the ice element, but L'Amore's was FAR more powerful, especially when she has focused her inner power to a certain point (which was what she was doing the entire time her eyes were closed, albeit showing off her Observation Haki). In this scenario, not only did her Ice Beam completely freeze Rocket and trap him in a case of ice, but a gigantic ramp-like structure of ice was made behind him, which wound up against the wall of the Danger Room's elevator and spanned about 6 feet on both sides of it.

Dropped jaws and bulged eyes were on many of the faces of all the Bean Titans in attendance, watching what had just happened.

L'Amore walked off and passed by Jabber. She looked towards him solemnly, not looking him in his eyes. "Are you the one with fire?"

The parrot nodded nervously, shaking from the temperature in the room and L'Amore herself.

"Please..." she started to say, before giving the ice ramp a single flick of a finger, shattering the entire structure to pieces and releasing Rocket. "Keep it away from me." She then walked into the elevator, knowing that she has certainly passed every test put before her.

Jabber was left shocked because of the sight of the huge ice ramp breaking with one sharp strike of a finger. However, he knew that she was concerned about being around fire, and that fact stayed with him as well.

Scorch had entered the Danger Chamber to warm the four birds up and melt all of the ice and snow with his own natural fire skills. "Unlike those three, you were smart to not fight her," he told Jabber.

_Meanwhile, in the control center..._

"Well, all I can say is... thank you, L'Amore!" Dotty told her, not wanting to give out all the results just yet. She was still alarmed by her performance as much as everyone else was.

"Of course!" the poodle replied, with a curtsey. "What do I do now?"

"Ah, Gigi will escort you back to Sweet's office. He'll tell you how to get settled into a room here. You'll love it here, trust me."

"Oh, thank you! I had fun! **_Arrivederci!_**"

L'Amore quickly took her leave with her cousin. A moment of silence occurred afterwards.

"That Ice Beam... was insane." Waddle marveled.

Once the young penguin said that, there was much commotion among all the Bean Titans in the Danger Room—most of which was about the new Bean Titan. L'Amore was certainly the talk of the Tower now.

_"12,000 BEANs flat... and with the same kind of silent focus that Sweet was saying that Gigi had... it's unbelievable."_ Dotty thought to herself.

**/-/**

**An Italian ice princess with extraordinary skill has joined the Bean Titans... and within a mere 30 minutes, she has made an impact already. How will L'Amore's life be away from a royal palace she has called home, now that she is considered a hero and a fighter? We shall see.**

**More to come soon.**


	12. The Determined Stallion

**AN: I did not imagine that this Episode would be this long. I will admit though, I have been paying a LOT of attention to detail, and have been working to put more into these stories. I'm about halfway done though. Who knows? I might even break the 100,000 words mark. Let's hope not... ha ha.**

**So to make time for the future episodes, I am skipping what happens in this story on Wednesday. I could always pull off a short flashback, right? Yes, I would think so. Nevertheless, on with the story.**

**References used [previously]: Teen Titans, Justice League Unlimited, Final Fantasy (VII: Crisis Core, X, & XII), Marvel/X-Men, Pokémon, Kids Next Door, Dragonball Z, Capcom, Naruto, WWE, TNA Impact, Family Guy, Bleach, Code Geass, Sonic Adventure 2, Xiaolin Showdown, Bakugan Battle Brawlers, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and One Piece.****  
****In this chapter: Star Wars (by quote)****.**

Chapter 12 — The Determined Stallion

_(Time: 7:00 PM, Thursday night. Location: the Facility, in Sweet's office.)_

After much preparation, the events for TUE tomorrow night were nearly complete. To finalize everything, an assembly was called forth, organized by Sweet. He called for Trio Alpha of the Legendary 12—himself, Mac and Aurora—and Gigi, as a special guest.

**The events for Friday were as follows:**  
1) Begin with an all-female Battle Royale. Rufus won the first Battle Royale of TUE and earned his own spot in tomorrow's UNLIMITED Tournament. Since women were included in the tussle, Sweet wanted to ensure that one of them would become the winner this time around. The few females that are included in the tournament will not be participating in this.  
2) A testimony from the Griffin family. Sweet included this in the program not only because he personally wanted to know how the family enjoyed their stay at the Home Base, he thought that it could be used as a "welcoming incentive" to everyone tuned in to TUE. Connecting with the people is the aim here.  
3) The UNLIMITED Tournament. As Sweet mentioned before: the winner of this tournament could decide their own reward, as long as it is within rational bounds.

The only thing that was left to finalize was the tournament, as Sweet had not fully decided on whom to include in it besides the obvious choices... which was why Mac, Aurora and Gigi were there to help him. Mac's intuition has always been right, Aurora can provide great input in serious matters, and Gigi has been watching the other Bean Titans, contemplating on who would be perfect candidates for her team.

This was the last "mini-conference" before tomorrow, as the Bean Titans anticipated that the people would arrive to the Titans Metropolis earlier than last time, and in greater numbers. The time for negotiation was now.

"All right," Sweet started to speak, sitting down in his chair. "I saved the toughest part for last... the UNLIMITED Tournament. That's why you three are here with me. We need to figure out just how to set it up just right."

Aurora gave out a short chuckle. "I would've imagined that you might have figured this out already, since you've been thinking on this all week now."

"Yes. But remember, he's had to make adjustments for the Griffins... we've all had to, hehe." Mac replied, pacing around slightly. "And don't forget, Miss L'Amore just joined us a couple of days ago, so some time was meant for her as well."

Sweet put his hands on the table. "Then I hope you won't be too surprised when I announce this. L'Amore will be one of the entrants in the UNLIMITED Tournament."

Gigi reacted slightly, turning her head. "What?" she exclaimed.

"No need to worry, Gigi. Dotty told me about everything that happened in the Danger Room the other day, and I happened to get a chance to see it all in the Memory Room along with a few other things I needed to see. Taking her power and actions in battle into consideration, she is similar to you. Her being in the tournament would present a challenge to herself and the other Titans as well. I would like to see more of L'Amore."

"Okay, so who else do we have in the tournament right now? Who made the cut and have definite spots?" Aurora asked.

Sweet then got up and turned on the monitor behind him, to display the tournament brackets (which were empty) and a box set for a list of names. The orangutan pointed at the few names in the box so far. "Besides L'Amore, Rufus comes up on this list. He has earned his spot thanks to his victory in the Battle Royale this past Monday."

"Of course." Mac uttered.

"Now, I will mention that we will only have 3 Bean Titans returning to the tournament scene. We have Scorch and Bronto; they will be repeating their match... so that pairing is set in stone already."

"But... why?" Aurora wondered.

"I had a chat with Bronto after we got back from the Metropolis. He was focused on one thing, speaking on it with lots of confidence: "I can beat Scorch...!" he said. I thought about it, and came to a decision. I'm going to give Bronto another shot at him because he really wants it, and that he's exuding the confidence that Jake was showing before."

Mac grinned. "The kid's got guts, that's for sure... going for someone that tough."

"Indeed," replied Sweet, taking a few steps away from the monitor. "The third Bean Titan reentering the tournament is Fortune... who I personally think was an unexpected entry."

"Why's that?" Mac asked.

"When she came to me, she was incensed. She told me that Princess was... being VERY disrespectful to her, I'm going to put it. To make a long story short, the two Angels have a lot they want to get off of their chests... and even though I have not heard at all from Princess herself, I know that that this tension between the two of them is real. As Bronto and Scorch have a match in the first round, the same goes for these two. A second match is official—it will be Fortune versus Princess."

Aurora shook his head. "Come to think of it, I haven't seen Princess train very often... so I don't know the kinds of things that she's capable of."

"Neither have I. We will find that out tomorrow," Sweet replied. "All that's left is to decide the remaining ten spots in the UNLIMITED Tournament. No one else from the previous tournament will be included. That rules out Roam, Jake, Hippie, Cheeks, Tracker, Congo, Crunch, Rocket, Chipper, Rover, Luke, Pouch—"

"And me." Gigi finished for him.

"Yes. Gigi, you'll be watching the action from the press box. Think of it as another gift because of your new status. You don't have to compete at all tomorrow, not even in the Battle Royale."

The black poodle smiled. "Ah, thank you!"

"Of course. Now, let's think of some names." Sweet finished saying, before his wristwatch went off, all of a sudden. It was an alert from Mystic saying that there was another new humanimal in the building, and that she was escorting him from the front entrance to Sweet's office. "Hold that thought, everyone... it appears to me that there is another potential Bean Titan joining us at this moment. Whoever it is, they're on the way now."

"Now?!" Aurora exclaimed. "How are we going to get him or her settled in at a time like this?"

Mac shut his eyes. "Perhaps we could consider that some people adjust faster than others, as that could be the case with this Titan. We won't know until we meet him or her though."

"Well I'm not going to question your intuition until it actually becomes relevant."

Sweet touched the side of his forehead, getting a telepathic message from the unicorn. "Mystic's here," he announced to Mac, Aurora, and Gigi.

A few seconds later, the shutter door opened and Mystic presented herself to those in Sweet's office. Following her was a male horse that looked fairly similar to how Durango looked. His coat was the same tawny color, but had no white portions anywhere; whereas Durango had some white around his wrists and ankles and also down the middle of his face, stopping at the top of his nasal cavity. Like Durango, this horse also had brown hooves (hands and feet, per se) and a white mane. His hair, however, was unique in that it was faintly highlighted in a goldenrod shade, which darkened at the tip of every lock of his hair. The style of his was shaped in a faux hawk, and he had bangs falling toward the outside of his left eye. He was wearing a confident face, reminiscent of a battle-ready warrior.

At the very sight of the stallion, Mac sensed that there was something different about him. He had a feeling that the horse already had humongous power within him. Gigi sensed it too, but she was more composed about it than Mac was.

"Greetings," Sweet spoke to the horse first. "Welcome to Titans Tower. I shouldn't ask why you're here because I already see you have found our special wristwatch. I am Sweet Summers, here to kick-start you into the life of a Bean Titan. First and foremost, I would like to know your name."

"Spurs McKee," the stallion replied. He had a moderate Scottish accent.

"Okay Spurs... and your age?"

"18."

"Well, I can hear the confidence in your voice. Is there something special that you want here?" Sweet asked.

Spurs paused for a moment. "To find what's left of my family and help them," he answered.

Aurora's eyebrows jumped. "**What's left** of your family? What happened?" questioned the polar bear.

"A group called the Acolytes took their lives, and spared mine. I want revenge for what they did."

The Bean Titans in the office were shocked to hear that Spurs had an encounter with the Acolytes.

"Thank goodness you're alive. We do know who the Acolytes are, but as of early last week, we have eliminated every member of that group. It took us quite a few years, but a small unit we have called Team Z got the job done; Team Z is mostly comprised of horses." Sweet reported to Spurs.

"Were there any survivors in your family?" Mystic asked.

"Well, my aunt and my cousin left home before the attack. Both of them looked about the same—white coats, light pink manes, and sparkling pink hooves."

Sweet found that he could easily match that description with people he knew in the Titans League. "This may be a wild guess, but was your aunt's name Vanessa?"

Spurs widened his eyes. "Yes! Is she still here?"

"I'm sorry to say that she isn't. Her life was taken, along with a large number of our allies several years ago."

Mac and Gigi remained silent still.

"Your cousins are still alive though," Mystic began to tell Spurs. "Both of them are siblings in Team Z; one of them is here inside the Tower now, but the other is on their home island out in the Pacific Ocean."

"Two cousins? I remember only having one... Tina. She looks like her mother." Spurs pondered. He never knew about Vanessa's son.

"Oh trust me, you have another cousin. The resemblance is very clear. Getting to meet him and getting you adjusted to the life of a Bean Titan would be a problem at this point in time, however. We are currently busy trying to plan out a tournament." Sweet said.

Gigi raised her hand. "Might I recall something?" she began to speak. "I heard from Monsieur Spunky that there was an idea that said: in the event that a new Titan would join the team during deliberations of a tournament, the newcomer can opt to take place in the tournament and not worry about the normal testing procedures."

Sweet was startled, having remembered what she was talking about. "Yes, that idea was being debated on just recently, before the first tournament... only, we did not get a chance to make it an official order."

"Well, what do you think, Spurs? Do you think that you would want to try fighting in the tournament?" Aurora asked.

"The reward is that you can decide your reward, as long as it is reasonable." added Mystic, standing next to the horse.

Spurs thought about it for a second and then made up his mind, walking up Sweet's desk. "You said... my cousins are a part of Team Z, and the one I don't know about isn't here right now."

"Yes. Your cousin Tina and four other members of Team Z are here inside Titans Tower right now—two other horses, a unicorn, and a terrier dog. We were informed that on Saturday morning, they would return to their island... where the remaining three members are—two young ones and your second cousin, Durango."

Spurs nodded. "Well, if I were to win this tournament, then I will ask to join Team Z."

Sweet and Mystic were perplexed at his answer, looking at each other. Both of them did not have any words to speak. Mac, on the other hand, was astounded by how confident Spurs sounded, and mixing that confidence with the power that he sensed in Spurs gave him the idea that the horse was a VERY strong-willed person.

"They aren't speaking, but I guess I can understand why," Aurora began. "No one has asked to join Team Z before, so this is new to us. Plus, I can see that you really want to meet Durango and possibly spar with him and the rest of Team Z. Well... all the stipulations seem to fit for this occasion, right?" The polar bear then raised his hand and looked around the room. "All in favor?" he asked.

Gigi, Mac and Mystic then raised their hands. They all looked towards the Great Hero, who was putting new information into the tournament. He then saw all of the raised hands.

"Well, the majority rule stands. It's settled! Spurs, I have you set in the UNLIMITED Tournament tomorrow, with Rufus as your first opponent," he announced as he stood to assume the Titans' Salute. "Welcome to the Bean Titans, my friend."

Spurs proceeded to imitate his stance and assume the Salute as well. "Thank you very much, sir! I won't disappoint you; I'll give it my best."

"I'm positive that you will. Right now, we are in the process of deciding on nine other Bean Titans to be in the 16-man tournament. You'll have to excuse us for the time being. Mystic, would you please go and get him settled into a room down in the Suites?"

"Of course." the unicorn replied, leading the stallion out of the office.

Sweet, Mac, Aurora and Gigi stood by for a couple of moments to take in what had just happened.

"Well that was an interesting twist," Aurora uttered, breaking the silence.

"I wonder how he'll do... completely new to fighting amongst us." Gigi said.

"We're going to find out tomorrow night," Sweet replied, before turning his attention to Mac, who had not said a word since Spurs entered the office. "You've been silent this whole time, Mac. What's up?"

The cardinal shook his head. "The force is strong with this one..." he murmured.

"Ha ha, come on Mac! It's not like you to crack a joke like that..." teased Aurora, smiling.

"No, I'm serious. Spurs has this powerful presence inside of him, and when he speaks, that presence I sense radiates from him like Felix's hidden potential or Gigi's resolve in battle. It's unbelievable, I'm telling you..."

Sweet thought about what Mac said, remembering that he mentioned that there was confidence in Spurs's voice. "I'll keep that in mind..." he began to say, sitting back in his chair. "Like I said, there will not be any official judgments about him until the first round of the UNLIMITED Tournament tomorrow night. Until then, let's worry about right now. I need names people, ha ha!"

**/-/**

**2 new talents have joined the Titans out of the blue within a week. They both show major promise and seem to be vital assets to the Titans League based on how they have presented themselves on their first impressions. How will they fare in the UNLIMITED Tournament?**

**You don't want to miss this. Tune in next chapter, on BTA Episode 15!**


	13. Goals and Apologies and Promises! Oh my!

**AN: References used [previously]: Teen Titans, Justice League Unlimited, Final Fantasy (VII: Crisis Core, X, & XII), Marvel/X-Men, Pokémon, Kids Next Door, Dragonball Z, Capcom, Naruto, WWE, TNA Impact, Family Guy, Bleach, Code Geass, Sonic Adventure 2, Xiaolin Showdown, Bakugan Battle Brawlers, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, One Piece, and Star Wars.****  
****In this chapter: **_nothing_ _new_**.**

Chapter 13 — Goals and Apologies and Promises! Oh My!

Spurs woke up the next morning with a fresh smile, having enjoyed sleeping on a hammock in his new room. Even though Mystic showed him everything there was to know about making his own room, he decided not to customize it at all, since he believed that he would be moving to Team Z's island tomorrow. All he needed were clothes and a bed. Knowing that he was in the tournament tonight, Spurs went to the closet and utilized the "magical" smart system of Titans Tower by using voice commands to get his exact selection of clothes. He called for a white workout ensemble—a sleeveless shirt with matching sweatpants and shoes. After putting the clothes on, Spurs was ready for what the day had in store for him.

Soon afterwards, a knock was heard on this door.

"Spurs? Are you in there?" called a young lady's voice.

The stallion did not recognize the voice, since the only two females he heard from were Mystic and Gigi. He knew that Gigi was French from her voice, and that Mystic had a more refined American tone to her words. This voice was new to him, so he approached the door to see who possessed it.

"Yes, is there something wrong?" he asked before grasping the door knob.

"No, I'm just here to give you a wake-up call, that's all. I don't know why Sweet told me to do this, but... it's ten o'clock!" she replied, giving a short chuckle afterwards.

"Oh okay, thank... you," Spurs said with a brief pause, when he saw who was at his door. His eyes were set on another horse who looked just as he described last night; she had a white on her skin and light pink hair on her mane and tail. He also noticed that she had a pair of long ponytails in her hair that hung down the side of her head, linked together by a transparent white bow at the end of it. Despite having not seen her in so long, Spurs knew that he was looking at his cousin.

Tina, too, was surprised when she first saw Spurs, but not in the fashion in that she recognized him. She immediately thought that he was cute, and her mouth was slightly agape to express that. "Ah, sure thing..." she replied, with her voice trailing off.

"Um, don't think this is weird or anything, but are you Tina?"

Her light gray eyes sparked up. "Yes, but... h-how do you know me?" she asked nervously, pushing away some of her veil of hair that acted as her bangs.

"I'm your cousin, from Scotland. Your mom is my aunt."

"Oh..." she uttered, letting go of her growing infatuation with Spurs. "Well, can I get a hug? I'm glad you're here!"

Spurs initiated the embrace. "Likewise! I actually wanted to talk to you about something," he told her.

"Oh really? What is it?"

"Well, it's about why I'm here now. I'm thinking about—"

"Well, hey there cutie...!" exclaimed another female voice, almost the same as Tina's.

Spurs looked over and was blindsided by another mare, who was standing right beside him. He saw that her appearance was almost the complete opposite of Tina; she had hot pink skin with white hair (with a pair of hot pink ponytails, which was strange) and darker gray eyes. Her bangs were not designed like a wedding veil over her forehead; instead, her's were thinner and fell in three places, one lock down the middle and the others were outside each of her eyes. As far as her nature was concerned, Spurs could tell that she was more assertive than Tina was.

"Um, Mina?" Tina called.

"Well, he is, isn't he?" Mina retorted, looking towards her BFF. "I mean, sure, he looks like Durango—all except his hair and some of his coat, but he is cuuute!" She was now tugging at his left arm.

Tina sweat-dropped. "You know how you said he looks like Durango?"

"Yeah?"

"That's because he's his COUSIN."

Mina loosened her grip. "Ohhhhh. Well he's still cute."

"Yeah, get off of him, huh?" Tina told her.

"Yeah. Sorry about that," Mina said to Spurs, backing off and moving to stand by her Oracle Twin.

"It's okay."

"Okay good. Now, what was it that you wanted to tell me, Spurs?" asked Tina.

"Well, I just joined the Bean Titans last night, and after talking to Sweet for a while, I got myself a place in this thing today called the UNLIMITED Tournament."

"Are you serious? That's great, but... isn't that a bit too soon? I mean, you walked in the door, and then the next thing you know, you're put in a contest with 15 other super-powered fighters you don't know very much about at all. Are you sure you're ready for it?"

"If I want to be a part of Team Z, then yeah... I'd have to be."

Mina put her hands out. "Whoa, wait a second. I don't get that part.. 'if you want to be a part of Team Z'? Why do you say that?" she wondered.

"Sweet said that the winner of the tournament could decide on what their reward is," Spurs started to explain. "Originally, I came here with the intention of finding my family. I knew that Tina and Aunt Vanessa came here to run from the Acolytes, so that's how I remembered to come to America and find out about the Titans League... along with this here wristwatch. I knew about you, Tina, but I NEVER knew that you had a brother... and he's on a Pacific island right now, right? If he looks so much like me like I keep hearing, then I want to do whatever it takes to see for myself, even if I have to go up against the toughest person here."

Mina was silent for a moment. "Sounds like he knows what he's doing..." she uttered.

"Yeah, and that's why I'm going to say that I wish you good luck, Spurs," Tina began, putting her hands on his shoulders. "Some of the Titans here are pretty tough, but if you can get through them tonight, you'll have a sure shot at coming with us tomorrow morning when we leave for the island. I'm gonna go let Dep, Fortress and Thunderbolt know about what you want to do."

Spurs assumed that those three names were the other members of Team Z present at Titans Tower at the moment. He nodded. "Thank you so much, Tina... you too, Mina."

"Ah hah, don't mention it!" replied the pink horse.

Tina rolled her eyes. "She still thinks you're cute."

"I... can tell, he he," he responded, looking away.

"Well, excuse me for you looking SO much like Durango..." Mina murmured, as the three of them were walking down the hallway.

"I might as well get used to hearing that."

"Yep... and just so you know, Mina's his wife." Tina revealed to him.

Spurs was left dumbfounded, shaking his head. "Wow, I've got a lot to catch up on, don't I?"

"Uh-huh!" the Oracle Twins simultaneously answered, as they were escorting Spurs to the kitchen for breakfast.

* * *

The time was finally 3:00 PM, and all of the Bean Titans in the Tower were ready to go to the Titans Metropolis in New York City, via an auto-teleport set by Dotty. No one knew what events they were to participate in until Sweet would call everyone into the Aeroseum, so as usual, TUE was a complete surprise. As long as the citizens loved it, nothing could go wrong.

Soon enough, the Titans instantly traveled to their new island by the warp, appearing in one large group on the southern shoreline of the Metropolis. Last time, there was massive quantities of people waiting to land on and explore the sights of the Metropolis because it was opening night. Now, there were lots more people this time, some of which were already living inside the island and while others were progressively migrating into it for tonight's showing. It was obvious—the people loved everything about the Titans.

"It's amazing how much one night can change the atmosphere of this place..." Fleece murmured, as surprised as many of the other Titans are.

"Indeed," replied Sweet. "Well, I guess we oughta make some time before TUE starts. Until then, do whatever you want and have fun. The call time for tonight is 4:30, and our audience should very much pack the place by about 5:30. I'll see you all later!"

With that announcement said, all of the Bean Titans dispersed themselves throughout the large island, going off to do their own things or interacting with the people.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

_(Background music (BGM): "Speculation" — Persona 4.)_

Tracker and Tiny were among a few of the Titans that decided to go eat earlier than the rest. They went to a restaurant that opened up a couple of days ago on the west end of the Titans Metropolis. However, this was not a typical "date" for them... in fact, this wasn't a date at all. The two canines just sat together and ate in silence. Tracker did not want to say anything because he knew that Tiny was pissed at him for swooning over L'Amore when she joined the Bean Titans a few days ago. He started to wonder why he was even with Tiny in the first place. She would get majorly upset about the first thing he did wrong, even if it was something as small as misunderstanding what she was saying at some point. Sitting with her now, Tracker would only look away from her and glance over every now and then, to sustain what was left of his loyalty to her. Even so, he knew that repeated eye contact bothered her as well... but to his surprise, she did not react to it at all. How could she... if she was not even looking at Tracker?

The chihuahua had her eyes set on Spurs, the new and very handsome stallion in the Bean Titans. He was sitting and talking with the Tracker's **other** eye candy, L'Amore. Tiny could understand why they were sitting together because they were the latest additions to the Bean Titans, but she was not thinking about that too much at all. She was mesmerized by his lean body, his green eyes and his unique faux hawk styled, dark goldenrod-tipped white hair. If only she could just hear his voice, she would be even more fascinated by him. Nonetheless, she was doing the very thing that Tracker was doing towards L'Amore—swooning, and she did not realize it.

Tracker's brother, Fetch, did realize it though. In fact, he realizes that Tracker and Tiny have a dysfunctional relationship, and now he feels that something MUST be done... whether it separates the two of them or not. Fetch is usually the rational person, but after observing the couple's actions as of late, he felt that he needed to save them both some heartache for once. He rose from his seat and approached the table that L'Amore and Spurs were sitting.

"I see you two are hitting it off pretty well," Fetch said as he was within five feet of them.

"Hitting... it off?" replied L'Amore, confused. "Sorry, I still don't understand very many American phrases."

"I think he means we're doing pretty good for our first week here in the Titans." Spurs guessed.

Fetch sweat-dropped, remembering that L'Amore was from Italy and recognizing now that Spurs was Scottish. "Ah... that's not exactly what I meant. I couldn't help but notice that the two of you seemed to be having a good conversation. Spurs looked like he was telling a few jokes, and L'Amore—you were smiling and laughing. I figured that you two are an item now."

"Well, I was telling jokes—some of the funniest things I've heard back in Scotland. Tell me lad, what is this 'item' you're talking about?"

"Um, you and L'Amore."

"An item?" L'Amore wondered, still trying to grasp the meaning. "We're two separate people. What ever do you mean, Fetch?"

"...Are you two in a relationship?" he finally uttered, finally being straightforward with the question.

"Oh... no, no! You misunderstand."

"We're just good friends, man," Spurs told him.

Fetch face-palmed. "(_aside_) And this is what I get for assuming... (_aloud_) Well, I'm glad that you both know each other at least."

"Thanks I guess."

"Was there something else you needed?" asked L'Amore.

"Ah yes. Now I remember," Fetch began, sitting down to make the conversation more private. "Look, don't misunderstand this, but there's a situation that needs to be fixed ASAP. You see, my brother over there and Tiny have had an off-and-on relationship since we've been in middle school. They've broken up over some ridiculous things in the past, but now, it's understandable why they can't seem to click right now. L'Amore, when you first came to us in the Danger Room, me and a lot of other guys thought you were adorable... my brother was one of those guys that took it to an extreme and called you sexy, which made Tiny much more upset at him than jealous of you. Right now, what's kind of ironic is that she's swooning right now about a different guy, and not even acknowledging the fact that my brother is right there in front of her. And you're the guy, Spurs; Tiny has been staring at you since she sat down and started eating her food. Kind of messed up, isn't it?"

Spurs rubbed the back of his neck. "When you put it that way, yeah, it is troubling."

"There's no second guessing that they are made for each other." L'Amore claimed.

Fetch's eyes bulged at that last comment. "Uh, no they aren't..."

"Well, pardon me, but if there's one thing I understand, it's love..." the white poodle began to tell them. "My papa understood a lot about love and gave me my name because of that. He taught me everything he knew when I was growing up, and since then, his teachings stayed with me. I can see now that 'love' here in America is no different than what I saw in Italy—good and bad relationships. From what I can tell by what you said, theirs is a bad relationship... but it can be fixed, especially since Spurs and I are... how you say, the eye candy."

Fetch was surprised when he heard her say that Tracker and Tiny's relationship could be fixed. "How are you so sure that it can be fixed?"

"It's because of one of the things Spurs and I talked about before."

"And that is...?"

"We aren't gonna tell you, lad! Trust me, you'd be offended if we did." Spurs replied.

"Yeah, so just watch and learn," added L'Amore, before she and Spurs suddenly rose from their seats and walked separate ways.

As Fetch watched on, he noticed that they both were actually heading towards Tracker and Tiny. Tracker was playing a game on his phone, while Tiny was turned towards the right, looking for where Spurs had gone to after averting her eyes from him for about a minute.

L'Amore came up from behind Tiny and tapped her shoulder to get her attention. "Excuse me, but can you tell me exactly what we'll be doing later on? I'm still new to all of this..." she said to her, taking initial action in her plan with an anonymous approach.

"I can see that..." Tiny said, trying not to sound gruff with her. "TUE stands for Titans Unlimited Entertainment, and we're giving the entertainment part of it. You might be performing, wrestling, singing... or if you're lucky, placed in the UNLIMITED Tournament, and it's all gonna happen way up there in the Aeroseum. Hope you aren't afraid of heights!"

"Ah, don't worry, I'm not at all!" the poodle replied with closed eyes and a smile.

When Tracker looked up and saw L'Amore, he slowly closed his phone and kept his eyes on her. Suddenly, his neck was being surrounded by Spurs's right arm.

"She's a beaut, isn't she?" questioned the stallion.

Tracker was startled. "Dude, you're lucky we aren't in the Danger Room... you can't come up behind me like that!"

"Well, I don't know too many folks here, so I figured I'd just pick and choose. I'm Spurs—nice to meet ya!"

"Tracker. Just remember not to sneak up on me and you'll be just fine around me."

Tiny turned her head back and saw Spurs once more, and like last time, she did not take her eyes off of him. She actually overheard the last bits of their short conversation. "You're Spurs? I reeeeeally like that name..." she uttered, trying to set her focus and feelings on the horse.

"Ah... thanks, I suppose. It's just a name, lass."

"That sure is a long 'really' you just made—" the hound dog pointed out, getting skeptical of his girlfriend.

"Shush!" Tiny interrupted him, before quickly getting back to Spurs. "So, how old are you?"

Spurs sighed. "18."

L'Amore giggled randomly, to see if Tracker would shift his attention to her, which he did.

Tracker still listened in on what Tiny was saying to the stallion. "He's two years younger than you, so how's about—"

"I said shut up..." Tiny grumbled at Tracker, stopping his words again. "What kind of accent is that? I wouldn't want to confuse it with something else, Spurs. Also, what's the exact shade of your eyes? Was it hard getting here? And how'd you get your hair to be like that?"

"It's Scottish. Um... I'm glad you're concerned about that and are trying to get to know me, but... why are you asking me so many questions at a time?"

Tracker looked directly at Tiny finally. "Yeah, why are you asking him so many questions?"

"I just wanna get to know him better. I've never seen him around before, and—"

"Okay," Tracker blurted out, interrupting **her** this time. "Then you won't mind if I get to know L'Amore better."

"NO!" the chihuahua retorted immediately, getting up out of her seat.

_(The music fades out.)_

"No? Why not?"

"Um... it isn't fair. Yeah, not fair at all."

_(BGM change: "Valua City — Skies of Arcadia.)_

Tracker scoffed at her excuse. "Bullshit... 'not fair'? I'll tell you what's not fair! You're basically telling me: "let me talk to Spurs while you sit there and take it like the dog you are"... how do you think I feel about that?" he implored to know, getting upset.

"And how do you think I feel about you drooling over her? You didn't have to come out and say, "her Italian accent is sexy", and just totally ignore me!"

Tracker suddenly stood and pounded the table with a flaming fist, becoming angry with Tiny at this point. He caught the attention of at least half of the people in the restaurant. His fiery aggression caused L'Amore to back up a few steps in slight fear, but Spurs was already right behind her, telling her that it was okay and that their plan was working.

"There was a reason why I was ignoring you until now! You get upset over every little thing I say or do, and even though I admit that I can get out of line sometimes, at least I'm not irrational like you are!"

_"Ouch..."_ Fetch thought, hearing his brother's last words.

"Um, guys..." Spurs tried to interject, but to no avail, as the two of them continued to bicker.

"Oh, you _**cabrón**_!" Tiny yelled out, using a vulgar Spanish word. "Why'd you even get back with me in the first place if you were gonna say THAT to me eventually? All the times we've broken up were because of other idiots!"

"No, the breakups were because of other PEOPLE, not idiots! Speak for yourself... you liked Sampson way back when, but you never popped the question to him. You dumped that one guy at the Academy because you thought he was boring, when he was really a good guy and you didn't realize that. HELL, you even took advantage of Dep, my older brother that never had a kiss in his life before at that point in time, and you took pity on me by coming back to me because he was kicking my ass in the Danger Room! You've messed up more than I have, so you are in no position to bitch at me!"

"If that's the case, then is this your way of getting back at me? Huh? Flirting with royalty—a princess from Italy? You should know, all those guys you mentioned—I never had the intention of going behind your back, WHILE we were together. Sampson was my best friend, and he died right in front of me when the Tower was being invaded by Wrinkle... me and you weren't even that close back then. I went to the second guy after we gave each other some space for the first time; I thought I might have had something clicking with him, but that wasn't the case... that's how I got back to you! And Dep? I'm sorry if I used him and didn't really give him what he wanted, but yes—you were in distress when he was fighting you, and I had to step in like you stepped in for me after I got my ass handed to by Scorch long before then, before we first got together. Don't you see? I'm TRYING to be faithful and keep us together, but the way you're just staring at her is ruining that!"

"WHICH IS EXACTLY THE SAME THING YOU'RE DOING WITH SPURS!" Tracker shouted. "Honestly, you need to think before you say stuff sometimes, because you contradict yourself!"

"I think there's something that you two should—" L'Amore murmured.

"Oh, don't try and turn this around on me," Tiny persisted with the arguing. "Maybe you should stop being a hardass!"

"You contradicted yourself again! Maybe you should just leave me alone..."

"No, YOU should leave ME alone!"

_(The music suddenly stops.)_

"Maybe you both need to shut up for one moment, stay put for now, and calm the hell down for everyone's sake! You're disturbing the peace." Gigi told them very sternly, stepping in at an opportune time. She was in the restaurant as well, entering it when they began arguing. "Now, I'm going to walk away... and once I'm gone, you need to be respectful and listen to what Spurs and L'Amore have to say. I'll see you all at the Aeroseum later."

With that said, the new leader exited the restaurant. The two canines followed her request and turned to the two newest Bean Titans.

"Now..." Spurs began to say, in his confident tone. "Fetch told us everything about your relationship, and it's obvious that you two aren't clicking. But believe us when I say that you two NEED to stay together."

Tiny was stunned.

"Stay together?" Tracker inquired. "We are on the verge of totally breaking up and going our separate ways, and you say we need to keep our relationship? Dude, were you listening at all to the things we said?! Or even took into account the things we've been doing recently?!"

"Heh... now YOU'RE asking too many questions," replied the stallion, crossing his arms and shaking his head. "Trust me, we've seen and heard it all. This argument would be a stupid reason for you two to break up.

"How in the hell can you say that?!" Tiny wondered. "Most of those things we said about each other were true."

"And you're going to let all of that get the better of you both? If that's the case, then this isn't even a REAL relationship." L'Amore proclaimed, turning her head.

"What?!" Tracker and Tiny simultaneously outbursted. Her comment sounded outrageous, considering that they have been together for a bit over 6 years, off and on.

The white poodle showed one of her cyan eyes to them, shielding the other one with her hair. "How could you two be in a relationship for so long if you haven't learned to accept each other's faults?"

"But—" Tiny uttered.

"Don't "but" her. L'Amore is VERY knowledgeable about love, and you'd do well to listen to her." Spurs retorted.

_(BGM change: "New Days" — Persona 4.)_

"It's true. My father taught me everything I know on that subject... although I am disappointed because I've never had the chance to choose my own suitor; all of the ones my parents wanted me to date were all terrible. I never even gave them ten minutes... but that's not the point. A relationship takes love, communication, and acceptance. You can't have one without the others. For you two, you haven't passed the acceptance test because you haven't learned to live with the problems that the both of you have. You have communication, and I'll say that the love is somewhere... but that love isn't complete without acceptance. Tiny: consider being calm and composed, and if you feel Tracker has done something wrong, keep a cool head and tell him instead of yelling at him. And Tracker: stay loyal to her and don't feel as though she controls you. You have to find, how you say, that common ground and not let all of the negative things bring you down. Love more, shout less."

Fetch and everyone else watching were very impressed with L'Amore's words, and were waiting to see how the couple would react to them.

"When... I mean, how can we start?" Tracker wondered.

"Well, you can start by leaving me and L'Amore be, for the sake of your bond... and because of something else that's actually kinda hard to say," Spurs spoke out.

"What is it? Just tell us. At this point, we might as well get this out of the way too..." Tiny requested, sitting back down.

"Do ya really wanna know?"

"Yes!"

"L'Amore..." Spurs turned it over to her.

She sighed. "Spurs and I aren't into canines as lovers."

"Whaaaat?! Why not?!" Tiny exclaimed, shocked at this announcement along with Tracker.

"I just like other ponies like me. No other way around that, lad. Sadly, there's no one available like that here, so I guess I'll have to wait. It's okay though—I'm not begging for it. I'll let it happen when it happens." Spurs answered.

"And me, I appreciate having dogs as friends, but nothing more. It's, how you say, a preference thing. Since I don't have anyone appointing me any boyfriends, I can choose on my own now. If I feel a connection, I will go after it, but it won't be with a dog. And another thing, fire scares me; I HATE fire... so I'm sorry to say this, but Tracker, you and I would NEVER work out."

"Well damn... that bites." Tracker muttered, before shrugging it off and looking at Tiny. "Oh well, I can get over it... and try this whole thing again, and make it better."

The chihuahua walked over and hugged her boyfriend. "Me too. I'm so sorry for what I did and how I treated you," she apologized sincerely.

"Same here."

The people around the Titans applauded, watching Tracker and Tiny hug it out. Now, maybe things will be better between the two of them, thanks to L'Amore's love counseling.

"Wow," started Fetch, walking up next to L'Amore and Spurs, "that was actually pretty good. And here I thought it was un-fixable... say, do you think you could get me hooked up with someone?"

"Ha, silly Fetch...!" L'Amore responded, starting off towards the exit of the restaurant. "One day at a time. One day... at a time."

"And then there was only one. Good luck, laddie!" Spurs exclaimed, following after the poodle.

"Our dessert for this evening is our Lovers' Strawberry Pound Cake," announced one of the waiters in the restaurant.

"We'll take some of that!" Tracker and Tiny responded at the same time, looking at each other lovingly afterwards.

Having seen enough, Fetch rolled his eyes up into his head momentarily and exhaled sharply. He then raised his finger up high. "Check please!" he shouted, wanting to get as far away from Tracker and Tiny as possible. Fetch knew the two of them were better now, but he did not want to watch anymore of their "interactions".

_(The music fades as the scene goes to black.)_

_/\/\/\/\/\/\  
_

_(BGM: "Your Affection" — Persona 4.)  
_

Meanwhile, Gigi was at a different restaurant, north of the one she visited previously. She did not get a chance to eat because of Tracker and Tiny's bickering, so to get away from all of their tension, she decided to come here. Luckily, she ran into Cheeks and Congo and decided to eat with them.

"Let's see," Congo said, "the odds of us getting a spot in the tournament are 2,269 to 1. Yep, they're about as good as me getting a girlfriend in the next 5 minutes, ha ha!"

"I'm not going to ask how he came up with those numbers..." Gigi murmured half-heartedly.

"Yeah, he's weird when he gets smart. Must be the glasses." Cheeks assumed as a joke.

"Hey!" his brother answered sharply. "It's not my fault that the author didn't point them out... or my short brown hair either."

"Who are you talking about, bro?"

"Eh... forget that. Anyways, we're not in that tournament, which is okay considering we trained with other Bean Titans beforehand."

Cheeks pondered on something, having his hand under his chin. "You know something? Your optimism and looks remind me of Kitamura from Toradora, now that I think about it."

Gigi sparked up. "Oh yes, he does look a lot like him—you know, minus the gorilla part," she added, giggling briefly afterwards.

Congo face-palmed. "Oh, don't tell me... you got her watching that show of yours too? Wow. One day, you two are getting together, and the next, you're already having sleepovers. And I'd have to guess that this is your first date away from home, right?"

"Well, it could be a double date if you picked up a girl pretty soon." Cheeks suggested, hugging Gigi close. Gigi accepted the embrace, nuzzling her head against his chest.

"Nah, I don't do to well with public displays of affection. Besides, there's no one in the Titans that are available..."

"Um... you miscalculated, bro," Cheeks told him, pointing his finger towards him as well, to grab his attention. "She might be new, but what about L'Amore?"

"Her? Come on, man. No disrespect to your cousin Gigi, but she's too good for me. She is adorable, I'll give her that though..."

"There is no disrespect if you say she's adorable, Congo," Gigi pointed out, looking towards him. "Although, I'm sorry to say that I don't know the type of guy she likes. She has been away from me for a good 12 years of my life, and the only time we talked a lot was a few days ago, when she came to the Bean Titans."

"It's not her taste in guys I'm worried about; it's the guys that want a taste of her—the competition. I'd much rather not fight for her if there are easily about 15 other guys, in a relationship or not, trying to get with her. Another thing is that I wouldn't want to tick her off or push her buttons." Congo looked off, shaking his head.

"What do you mean?" asked Cheeks.

"What do I mean?! Dude, she could freeze my ass in 2 seconds flat if I did!"

"I wouldn't be too sure of that," Gigi interjected. "Normally, she has a kind heart and wants to understand more of what there is here. In battle, she's graceful and extremely hard to touch. Other than offending her with words, the only reason she would be easily upset would be because of fire."

"Fire?" both of the Summers' brothers responded simultaneously, curious as to why fire would be the source of L'Amore's contempt.

"Uh-huh. She told me that when she was about 12 years old, she discovered her ice powers. It was great, except for whenever she was inside the palace during winter. Her family would have these nights in one of the big rooms, which all have a huge fireplace in them. Unfortunately, she always had to in the chair nearest to the fireplace... and whenever it was set aflame, she would feel weak. I figured it must have been a side effect of her ice powers, which is understandable since fire and ice are opposed. Then I heard that ever since she's realized that weakness, she's absolutely despised the sight—even the SENSE of fire. If it's there, she will get rid of the source one of two ways: running away in sadness or tears, or getting rid of the source on the spot... with that said, all the fire users in the Titans better hope she doesn't choose option two. But no matter which method L'Amore chooses, it doesn't change the fact that she is terrified of fire."

"Wow..." Cheeks mouthed, feeling sympathetic for the poodle's struggle.

Congo was the same, but he had a strange, determined look on his face. "I want to help her," he said open-endedly.

"You can't... it's a legitimate fear of hers. You can't just say you'll fix it and it'll be a piece of cake." Gigi replied.

"Um, I don't know about that, Gigi..." Cheeks spoke. "Most of the time, when Congo tries to do something completely new, he tends to succeed at it, whatever it is. Why'd you think he was chosen to send data through all the bases with Nibbler, Bonnie and Dotty a few years ago? That super-computer is no joke, and Congo knows his way around it a bit. But I digress. What I'm trying to say is that he's smart, and he can strategize."

"Better than Lucy?" Gigi interrogated, raising her eyebrow.

"Whoa... I don't know about that, hehe. Still, the main reason I said I'd help her is because I'm a Bean Titan. A lot of us started out not knowing what to do with our powers, or how to control them. Some of us even have problems, whether they affect us on the inside or on the outside. She doesn't need help with her powers... it's her fear of fire that needs to have a weaker influence on her life. I can only imagine how hard it is, but I know she can't go through it alone for the rest of her life. That's why we're all here, and I'll be the first one to lend her a hand if no one else will." Congo replied.

Gigi took a moment to think about it, as she too was concerned about L'Amore. "I have my trust in Cheeks that he'll always keep me as I am, and not limit himself because of who I am. So as L'Amore's cousin, I will put my trust in you, Congo, that you will help her cope with her weakness. If you make things worse for her or hurt her, then I will personally give you the honor of experiencing what a blackout is like. Is that understood?"

Congo took a second to recompose himself, then exhaled. "Hey, I've been keeping promises all my life. It's time I made one myself... so yeah, I understand."

"All right. Good luck, then," Gigi told Congo, before going over to give him a "good luck" hug.

"Thanks."

"Hey guys, it's 4:10," Cheeks announced, as they were in the hug, which he allowed. "Maybe we should start making our way over to the Megaplex before dad calls us all in."

With that said, the three of them finished up their food and left the restaurant, ready for the night ahead of them.

**/-/**

**"TUE" Friday is amongst us, Titaniacs. Stay tuned, as the next chapter will mark the beginning of all of the action.**


	14. Last Lady Standing

**AN: The "press box" annotations ("[I^I]" & "[O^O]") return from the first night of TUE, starting at this point.**

**References used [previously]: Teen Titans, Justice League Unlimited, Final Fantasy (VII: Crisis Core, X, & XII), Marvel/X-Men, Pokémon, Kids Next Door, Dragonball Z, Capcom, Naruto, WWE, TNA Impact, Family Guy, Bleach, Code Geass, Sonic Adventure 2, Xiaolin Showdown, Bakugan Battle Brawlers, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, One Piece, and Star Wars.****  
****In this chapter: **_nothing_ _new_**.**

Chapter 14 — Last Lady Standing

The time now was 5:30 PM, and there was not a person on the streets of the Titans Metropolis. The tens of thousands of people on the island could either be found filling up every seat possible in the Aeroseum or watching from inside the Megaplex like the millions and millions of spectators around the world are watching from their own sources of media. The noise inside the arena was outrageous, as the audience was awaiting the speech of commencement from the Great Hero himself.

In the press box sits the Legendary 12, the male members of Team Z present (Thunderbolt and Dep), Gigi, and the two announcers returning to the scene from WWE—Jerry "the King" Lawler and Jim Ross (a.k.a., "J.R."). Dotty gave Sweet the signal to start the event once she had gotten everything ready. Upon that signal, Mac warped Sweet to the center of the arena and one of the multiple air-mobile Watcher cameras zoomed in on the chimpanzee.

"Thank you, Mac," Sweet began, before looking all around at the roaring fans. "Wow, I could get used to this... seeing every seat here filled up and hearing nothing but joyous noise! With that said, it gives me great pleasure in saying: welcome everyone, to TUE!"

The "joyous noise" grew even louder.

"We have an exciting night planned and I'm sure you'll love every moment of it. In fact, I believe that most of you want to get to see the UNLIMITED Tournament again." After those words, the audience cheered loudly. "Ah hah, I was right. Well now, it's a good thing that there will only be one wrestling event tonight—the Battle Royale! Now, before I get to that, remember Chris Griffin from the other night? Well he and his family couldn't be here tonight, but they did send us a video from home, which I'm sure is them telling us what they thought of their stay at Titans Tower. Take a look."

One of the Watcher cameras levitated high above the Aeroseum's arena and then acted as a projector to both big screens, playing the recorded video by the Griffin family.

_(Recording)_

_"Good evening, Sweet... and the rest of the Bean Titans as well," greeted Lois. "On behalf of my family, I'm sorry to say that we won't be able to be there in person tonight."_

_"Yeah, but we'll be watching you guys do what you do best from here at home." Brian added.  
_

_Chris stood up and raised his fists happily. "We had a blast!" he exclaimed, before sitting back down.  
_

_"I'll miss getting to pick my own clothes, that's for sure. Chris's evil monkey lives in my closet now, but he hasn't come out whenever I'm in there..." Meg rambled.  
_

_"No one cares, Meg!" Chris retorted.  
_

_"I'll miss that glorious flat-screen TV that you have...!" Peter pleaded, nearly shedding a tear because of how amazing it was.  
_

_"Yes, and I for one would like to pay a visit all over again," Stewie began to say. "Until then, I'm going to make the most of my return to this hell hole by enjoying your fantastic methods of combat, very, very much... even more so than when Brian had fleas."  
_

_Brian sneered at the toddler. "You're lucky this video camera has low battery right now."  
_

_"It does?" replied Lois. "Well, I think that's all we had to say. Thank you again Sweet, for everything this week. Have fun!"  
_

_(End of Recording)  
_

"That we will, Lois... that, we most certainly will." Sweet responded after the video ended. "All right everyone, TUE ready to get underway! Ladies and gentlemen, it is time for the 16-man, all-female Battle Royale! As Dotty brings the 8-sided wrestling ring into view, I will explain the rules. In this elimination contest, the participants must be thrown over the top rope and both feet must touch the ground in order to be knocked out of the competition. The female Bean Titan that outlasts them all will be declared the victor and will have an automatic spot in next Friday's UNLIMITED Tournament! Well come on out, ladies... let's get the show on the road!"

At that announcement, a large majority of the male audience was heard over the rest, giving out cheers and catcalls for the 16 female Bean Titans coming out of the backstage area.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

**_(WRESTLING EVENT: The Women's Battle Royale. Dialogue is commentated by those in the press box, listed above—mostly by King and J.R.)_**

In a matter of about 5 minutes, all 16 female Bean Titans participating in the match were present in the ring. Again, the girls that are in the tournament later on are not present at the moment. Those in the ring right now:

— The three female members of Team Z: **Tina**, **Mina** and **Fortress** (all 22 years old). The Oracle Twins were already described, as far as appearance is concerned; Fortress had a white coat with sparkly lavender hair, and a golden ring fitted on her unicorn horn. All three of them have similar styles of fighting. Mina and Tina tend to work cooperatively.  
— Making her return to the Battle Royale is **Valentina **(age 30). She felt bad about her performance last time with her brother, and wanted to actually fight this time around.  
— Also returning were **Bernice** and **Brenaia** (both age 18), the daughters related to Burn and Bruno (respectively) in Wrinkle's Syndicate, but not affiliated with them. They will again work cooperatively against a tough opponent.  
— Two more returners: **Hannah** (age 19) and **Erin** (age 26). Both were eliminated last time by risk versus reward. Hannah took a dive to eliminate three additional people on the other side of ropes last time, while Erin was intercepted by someone else when she wanted to eliminate her own target. In this contest tonight, Hannah is the largest girl here.  
— The first of the new entrants was actually from the UNLIMITED Tournament this past Monday. **Chipper** is the Bean Titan in mind, looking to get right back into the tournament scene next week.  
— **Pouch** is also coming in from the tournament. She is the oldest member in this contest.  
— Fresh on the scene is **Leah** (age 13, polar bear), Aurora and Mystic's daughter. Going into this, she fears that that will not be able to rise above the competition because a vast majority of them are older than her.  
— To soothe Leah's fear, **Gloria** & **Gloriana Stars** (age 12, star-spangled bears) are also in this Battle Royale. Like Mina and Tina, these twin sisters use a whole lot of teamwork, and they happen to be quite good with that skill.  
— Their mother, **Glory** (age 30), stands with the rest of the older women. Erin is one of her close friends, but she might have to eliminate her tonight.  
— Putting an interesting spin on things is one of the four Angels ("special" bears)—the 25 year old angel-bear, **Halo**. This white bear may not do very much fighting... but she is not a pacifist.  
— The last entrant, on the other hand, is quite pacifist in nature. The tie-dye Angel, **Peace** (age 23), is a mystery because no one knows what she can do in battle, not even the Bean Titans themselves. Hopefully she at least throws one punch in this Battle Royale.

Once everyone looked ready to go, Sweet rang the bell and backed away from the ring, still acting as the all-time referee. At the start of the fight, everyone clashed with each other except for Peace, who excused herself from the fight by jumping over the ropes and hopping down to the floor, before walking to the backstage area.

**[I^I]**

"Wow..." J.R. uttered, watching the tie-dye bear walk away from the Battle Royale without a fight.

"Well, I guess that's one less person everyone has to worry about," King added, trying to be a bit optimistic about that action.

"That's true. So now there is 15 ladies looking for the win. Who will be next to go over the top?"

"I have my eyes on Hannah there. She's a big girl, and after seeing her go all-out and sacrificing herself to eliminate 3 other fighters last time, I'm convinced that she's gonna do some more damage this time!" King proclaimed, smiling a lot.

Canyon chuckled. "Say what you want about size difference. My money's on Pouch the kangaroo. She might not have a whole lot of upper body strength, but all the power she has rests in those legs of hers. If she gets you in a Monkey Flip, you're probably gonna find yourself landing on your back against the outside floor.

"I guess that makes sense... but what I can't understand is why there are 4 young ladies inside the ring, that aren't even adults!" J.R. pointed out.

"Not to worry," began Aurora, "my little girl should be fine. In fact, Mystic and I are rooting for her. Chipper can hold her own with or without her powers, and the Stars twins will put on a show because they work very well together."

**[O^O]  
**

Aurora was right, as Gloria and Gloriana were taking the fight to Fortress, who thought that she could outsmart the two of them. Mina and Tina also played as a team, but up against another pair: Brenaia and Bernice.

On another end, an aforementioned confrontation came true—Pouch versus Hannah. The two of them stood in the middle of the ring having a stare down, while everyone else was fighting. They both knew that they were the toughest two to beat in the ring. After a few moments, they finally decided to throw shots at each other. Soon enough, Pouch would get the upper hand once she started using her powerful legs against the canine's body. Feeling that Hannah was groggy enough, Pouch ran back to the ropes behind her to get a running start for a dropkick... but Hannah caught on and moved out of the way, causing the kangaroo to fall flat on her back. Hannah then body splashed her three times, pressing her entire weight against her chest-first. Pouch was left immobile in the middle of the ring for awhile.

Halo was quickly eliminated by Valentina, who simply sent her over the top rope. While she was landing outside the ring, Halo flapped her angel wings enough to land on her feet instead of her body, showing that she was graceful in defeat. Meanwhile, Valentina was so happy about the elimination that she decided to hit Hannah from behind.

Bad idea.

The canine snatched Valentina and threw her into both Erin and Glory, eliminating them all as they flipped over the ropes.

**[I^I]**

"Oh my goodness! Hannah's on a rampage in there!" J.R. exclaimed.

"I'll say..." Spunky responded, surprised as well. "If she had done this on Monday, there would've been no other female in that ring."

"I hear ya," began King, "and at this rate, she'll be the winner in no time."

**[O^O]  
**

During those comments, Mina and Tina had eliminated Bernice and Brenaia; at the same time, the Stars twins took out Fortress. Both two teams then looked towards each other before going on the attack, which left the other four participants to battle it out.

Chipper and Leah looked first at the intimidating Hannah, and then at Pouch, who was slowly getting up from the pain of Hannah's body splashes. The kangaroo looked back at them and knew that they were thinking about what to do at this point.

Coming to an agreement, Chipper and Leah attacked Hannah with numerous shots, causing her to back up towards the ropes. She was groggy yet again, but this time, they inflicted more damage than Pouch did by herself. Leah then went up to one of the turnbuckles to prepare for a diving move, while Chipper ran to the opposite ropes for a running start on the way back to Hannah, performing a cross-body attack—by which she leaps her whole body laterally into the air and collides with the target. Unfortunately, Hannah managed to catch Chipper and toss her out of the ring. After that, Hannah pushed Leah off balance when she finally got to the top of the turnbuckle. The young polar bear fell on top of the top rope and latched herself on to it, although it was painful. Suddenly, she rolled in between both the top and middle ropes and landed on the apron, before falling to the floor afterwards.

At the same point in time, Mina and Tina were eliminated by Gloria and Gloriana.

Assuming that both of them were out of the match, Hannah turned her attention to Pouch, who suddenly jumped towards her and set her trained legs against her waist while using her momentum to pull Hannah's body towards her. Pouch made them both fall to the ground, but she used her legs to launch Hannah into the air for almost a second before landing on the mat. This was the Monkey Flip technique that Canyon talked about in the press box.

As she was getting up, Hannah experienced more pain when she was blindsided from both the left and the right, receiving a pair of roundhouse kicks to the head by the Stars twins. Now, the canine was legitimately dazed and was about to lose her footing. Before one of legs could give out, Pouch, Gloria and Gloriana pushed Hannah to the ropes and used teamwork to successfully take her out of the Battle Royale.

Immediately after, the Stars twins sent Pouch over as well, which shocked everyone.

_"Well now, I guess it's down to those two... I think,"_ Sweet thought to himself, unsure that they were the last two still in the contest. He signaled to get one of the Watcher cameras to play back past events in the match. When looking at how Leah got out of the ring, he saw that she went between the ropes and not over them.

By the time he looked back at the ring, Leah was getting back into the ring slowly, still feeling the pain from landing on her back on both the edge of the ring and the outside floor. Gloria and Gloriana, as sisters, were bickering over who would get out of the ring first. They both wanted to win, but sadly, the Battle Royale calls for one winner. That winner was decided when Leah ran up behind them and forced them over the ropes and out of the match with a strong push to their backs.

The bell rang to signal the end of the match.

"Here is your winner, Leah!" Sweet announced, getting in the ring and raising the young Titan's hand.

**[I^I]**

"What just happened?!" blurted out King.

"I don't know, but my little girl did it! Haha, you lose Hippity... pay up!" Aurora spoke out, making the night a little more interesting by placing bets amongst the Legendary 12. This would apply in the tournament as well.

"Aah, darn it..." the bunny muttered, reluctantly giving Aurora 20 dollars.

"One of the Watchers caught footage of how Leah was still in the match," Dotty informed everyone in the press box.

"I already knew what happened..." Mystic uttered as the video was playing back to them. "See? She slipped through the ropes instead of over them, and it wasn't a dirty move at all. Hannah threw her there and she couldn't hang on. Leah was still in the match, and I'm proud of her for winning too."

"Well," began J.R., "I think she has rightfully earned that victory and she'll be somewhere in next week's tournament. Speaking of that, Jerry and I will be watching today's tournament from our front row seats out there in the crowd. We have nothing else to do for the rest of the night, so it'll be great to see all of the amazing action in a few moments!"

"That all sounds great, J.R. Hope you two enjoy what we have for you tonight!" Fancy responded.

The two of them took their leave from the press box.

"I don't understand something though..." Dep murmured.

"What?" Mac replied.

"How did our Mina, Tina and Fortress lose to little girls?"

Mac blinked once and then looked away with a dull look. "Never ask that question again."

**[O^O]  
**

/\/\/\/\/\/\

**_(MAIN EVENT: The UNLIMITED Tournament)_**

_(Background music: "Menu 2 Theme" — Super Smash Bros. Melee. Everyone could hear the music.)  
_

"Well now," started Sweet, standing outside of the ring, "I already implied this before: we'd get here faster than you would've thought. And here we are now... Dotty, '86' this ring for us—we don't want it here because the atmosphere is about to change, and it won't feel like it's at home, ohhhhhh no! Ladies and gentlemen, it is time for the UNLIMITED Tournament! Let's bring out the sixteen lucky Bean Titans that will kick this show into high gear!"

As the combatants were coming out of the backstage area, the mass audience roared in cheers as the octagonal wrestling ring completely disappeared, leaving only the spacious platinum-tiled arena as the battleground for the Titans.

Sweet spoke out again. "As you can see, there are some new faces and some old faces here. As a matter of fact, two of them just joined the Bean Titans this week. Nonetheless, I guarantee that they all will be sure to impress everyone watching TUE tonight! So without much further ado, let's get on with the first match!"

**/-/**

**This shall be interesting. The first round matches will cover the next two chapters.  
**

**See you then!**


	15. Overcoming the Odds, Part 1

**AN: References used [previously]: Teen Titans, Justice League Unlimited, Final Fantasy (VII: Crisis Core, X, & XII), Marvel/X-Men, Pokémon, Kids Next Door, Dragonball Z, Capcom, Naruto, WWE, TNA Impact, Family Guy, Bleach, Code Geass, Sonic Adventure 2, Xiaolin Showdown, Bakugan Battle Brawlers, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, One Piece, and Star Wars.****  
****In this chapter: Mortal Kombat and Yu Yu Hakusho (both by techniques)****.**

Chapter 15 — Overcoming the Odds, Part I

The 2nd UNLIMITED Tournament was underway when fourteen of the participating sixteen Bean Titans returned to the backstage area of the Aeroseum. Sweet, still acting as the referee/judge, stood in the center of the arena, in between the first two fighters that would battle it out in the first match. Everyone had a long night ahead of them, but it would certainly be an exciting one throughout.

The Watcher cameras, again, had the ability to instantly focus in on every pertinent moment in the Aeroseum, and also granted everyone the privilege of seeing and hearing everything that goes down on the battlefield.

With that said, the time for action was now.

* * *

_**UNLIMITED Tournament #2, First Round!**_

_MATCH 1: Nibbly vs. Kicks.  
_

"If you've gotten used to the women's wrestling earlier and want to see more of that, then watch something else, folks...!" Sweet began, building his tone of voice up. "This is what Titans Unlimited Entertainment is really about! This is hardcore, in-your-face, uncut action without the need to hold back on superpowers—because that's what everyone here and everyone watching around the world wants to see! Look no further than right here, because right now, we have two ambitious and battle-ready Bean Titans ready to throw-down!"

The crowd cheered even more, more than ready to be awestruck by this entertainment.

Sweet extended a hand out. "Introducing first, standing at 5'0" tall to my left, is **Nibbly Simmons**: a gray bunny who is 15 years old with a lot of raw power at his disposal. His father, Hippity, will be proud to see his son fight, as they both very much have the same powers of super strength and the earth element. Like his brother Hippie, Nibbly also has his own special Shen Gong Wu that appeal to his strengths." Sweet stops speaking shortly, to direct his hand toward the other side now. "His opponent to my right is 29-year-old **Kicks Gonzalez**. This bright green bear lives up to his name, as his kicking skills are unrivaled. Along with Pouch, he shares the fact that his legs are powerful, but his can strike at mach speed and are strong enough to deflect certain projectiles. Let's see who comes out on top, and advances to the quarter-finals. Titans, THROW-DOWN!"

_(BGM: "Combat" — Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core.)_

Once Sweet jumped back to watch the action from a distance, Nibbly and Kicks began to circle each other on their Legendary caliber of power.

"You first," Nibbly said, waiting on the bear to strike.

_"If you insist..."_ Kicks thought, before quickly beginning his offense by dashing in and delivering a roundhouse kick to the side of Nibbly's arm. Kicks assumed that the bunny's power came mostly from his arms, so if he could debilitate them, it would make the fight so much easier to handle.

"Uumph...!" Nibbly grunted upon impact. He hardly prepared himself for impact because he was testing the strength of Kicks's legs. They were quite strong, as Sweet mentioned before.

Kicks decided to follow up with another roundhouse kick, this time to his opponent's other arm. After hitting that successfully, he started to unload a flurry of fast kicks to the front of the bunny's body, pushing him backward progressively.

**[I^I]**

"Why isn't he fighting back?" wondered Kuku, looking on.

"I don't know, but if this keeps up, Hippity's about to lose another bet!" Aurora acclaimed, as he was rooting for Kicks to win by having a $50 bet on the line.

Hippity did not respond to Aurora's competitive remark. Like Sweet and Mac, he too was watching the match intently, paying more attention to his son.

"I promised myself that I would only commentate on a few matches, and not all of them," Gigi started to say, in a tone reminiscent of Mac's calm yet serious tone. "So when I do speak, I will only point out what is clear in my mind and let the other Titans decide if my thoughts are correct. Right now, I'll say this because it is certain: Nibbly has the upper hand."

"No way..." Aurora interjected.

"Well, it's a good thing you're up here Gigi." Dotty spoke, turning in her seat. "The Danger Room mechanics are pretty much the same here as they are at home, meaning that the status of both combatants are true in every quality and quantity. There's no deception—only surprises. At this moment in time, Nibbly's health levels are slightly less than Kicks because he is the one being attacked right now. However, one thing I don't understand is why his levels aren't any lower. Kicks's legs are very strong, and usually it is common for him to crack down his opponent's stamina percentage to about 60%. Nibbly's percentage has not even dropped below 85% yet..."

**[O^O]  
**

"Whip Kick!" Kicks shouted, finishing his onslaught by performing a standing high backflip, kicking Nibbly high up into the air at the same time. This special attack displayed a thin arc of energy, as if a blade was slicing through the air.

Nibbly actually felt the pain behind that attack. _"Ow! Okay, now it's my turn...!"_ he thought during his descent. He was dusting off his left hand.

As his opponent was falling, Kicks quickly made a sphere of energy, suspended it above the ground and then struck it with a spinning roundhouse kick. He called it his Acer Shot, kicking it like a soccer ball to the goal net; in this case, the goal was Nibbly's body.

"Fist of Tebigong, Earth!" exclaimed Nibbly, striking the ground with a golden gauntlet to quickly recover from his fall and then hitting the energy ball back at Kicks at a very high speed.

Kicks could not react to this fast enough, so he suffered from his own attack. He was forced back halfway across the arena, almost hitting the wall.

The audience reacted to the reversal in enthralled awe, making what seemed to be a resounding "Ah!" sound.

"What the...?" Kicks murmured, struggling to get up because he had put a lot of energy into his Acer Shot. "I knew that I had to deal with your Shen Gong Wu, but how are you still able to move like that after those hundreds of kicks I gave you?! You have to be hurt..."

"Believe me, those legs of yours aren't painless at all," responded Nibbly. "But it's thanks to my Lithos Armor that I still have plenty to spare."

"Lithos Armor?"

The bunny sighed. "To make a long story short, it's just an invisible, tough, and very thin earth armor of mine. It'll wear off if you beat me up enough, but let's face it—I'm not just gonna LET you do that."

Kicks ignored what he said and ran towards him for another attack.

**[I^I]**

Mac chuckled shortly.

"What is it now?" asked Mystic.

"Kicks shouldn't be running into Nibbly like that, especially after he revealed a little information about his passive defense."

"Why not? He has the earth element, so Kicks should have no problem getting around that since he's faster than him! And pitting his leg strength against his Lithos Armor, Kicks should have that broken in no time." Spunky claimed.

Gigi shook her head. "You're wrong."

"What?"

"The reason why I said Nibbly had the upper hand is because he and his sister have two passive abilities," the poodle began to explain. "For one, Nibbly's Lithos Armor is like a _**hierro— **_a tough layer of his skin that makes him automatically slightly resistant to most attacks. Don't get this confused with the Armor of the Mantle because of two reasons: 1) it's invisible, and 2) it's stronger than the Mantle armor. The only downsides to that is that the armor is, like he said, limited to a certain amount of damage and will break apart at that limit... and that he takes double the punishment from what he is already weak to, which are water, ice, and wind. The other passive ability is called Nimbletoe. Only Nibbly and Nibbler have this."

"What is that?" Spunky asked.

"I actually knew about that second ability myself," Dotty interjected. "Nimbletoe gives them greatly increased mobility, as well as a boost of energy control. You're right in the sense that those with the earth element tend to be slower than most other fighters... but with Nimbletoe as a perk, Nibbly is—without question—the fastest earth user in the Bean Titans. With the combination of speed, strength and defense, he's a pretty tough bunny. And imagine Nibbler as well... she has fire as her strength, but trying to hit her would present a bigger challenge because she's even more agile than her brother. Nonetheless, the Titans fighting in this tournament should count their blessings, since neither of the twins are as fast as their older brother, Hippie."

**[O^O]  
**

Once the conversation in the press box concluded, Nibbly hit Kicks very hard with his **Tebigong Meteor Kick**—a special technique in which he borrowed power from the Fist of Tebigong and mixed it in with his Seismic Kick of earth, in the same fashion that Ears would use his Tornami Twister, which combined the Orb of Tornami with Tsunami Strike. This move quickly knocked out Kicks and put his kicking power to shame.

Sweet came in to check the situation. He saw that Kicks had one of this thumbs down, indicating that he did not want to continue.

"Kicks is unable to fight! The win goes to Nibbly, and he advances to the quarter-finals!" he announced, as the crowd was still overly pleased with everything they were seeing.

Since they were not fighting in the tournament, Pouch and Roam came to collect the Bean Titans that would lose their matches. They carried Kicks to the backstage area, with Nibbly following them.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

_MATCH 2: Fortune vs. Princess._

"All right folks, we're moving on with our second match of the night!" began Sweet, who then began to pace around the center of the ring between the two participants, looking at them from time to time. "This match, I gotta say, is one that I can't put a label on. I can't say if it's a rivalry or just a plain fight. Well, I'll find out soon enough... but I digress. To my left we have a returner from the 1st UNLIMITED Tournament this past Monday—**Fortune Song**. I'm sure many of you are familiar of what she is capable of in this atmosphere. _*turning his head* _Unfortunately, I can't tell you much about her opponent since I've never seen her in combat for as long as she has been here. Meet **Princess Diana Violetta Roseleigh**—I'm not kidding, that is seriously her God-given name; "Princess" is her first name, so HAVE to call her that. Anyways, this purple bear has talents that I honestly am not aware of... so I will be just as surprised as you all are."

Fortune was getting impatient, giving her fellow Angel an angry look and breathing fairly hard.

_(BGM change: "Flame Core (Cavern)" — Sonic the Hedgehog 2006. Starts from beginning of song, and all musical elements are heard.)_

"With all due respect Sweet, I think you should cut to the chase... it doesn't look like she's getting any younger. And to be honest, neither am I." Princess teased, albeit being ready to fight.

"Right... well, you heard it from them, ladies and gentlemen. Fortune, Princess... let's THROW-DOWN!" announced Sweet, taking his place away from the bears.

Once the Great Hero was done speaking, Fortune instantly dove for Princess, tackled her, and started to attack by flailing her arms at her in a slight rage. The crowd quickly ate up this action and started chanting, "Fight! Fight! Fight!" Princess took some of the hits and blocked the others. After about 15 seconds, she got tired of it and launched the panda off of her with her legs. The distance did not stop Fortune, who started to run back to her.

The purple bear sighed. "Firaga," she chanted, sending out a thick, burning fireball at Fortune.

_"At close range?!"_ Fortune winced, while she was within eight feet of Princess. There was no way for either of them to avoid the Black Magic spell, as it would explode in a large and fiery blast radius.

This would force them both away from each other even further, and make them stop to contemplate on what to do next.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, using Firaga that close to me?!" Fortune interrogated, casting her Regen spell.

"Are you STILL complaining?" replied Princess, who displayed a light green healing aura. She was using Cure, the basic White Magic spell. "Can't you hear the people? They want a Bean Titans' fight, not some sissy contest. So I'll warn you now: if you're going to give teach me a lesson, get serious and start counting on your luck... you're gonna need it."

"Ex-CUSE me?! **I'M **going to need luck?! You need to check that for yourself! You haven't been in a single tournament in the Titans, ever... and I hardly ever see you train. What chance do you have against me, someone who's more experienced with this type of thing?"

Princess shook her head. "You're just like everyone else... you assume that just because I haven't spent a week's time in the Danger Room my whole life, that I'm weak. Fortune, I'm not joking with you this time. If you believe that to be true, then there's no way you're beating me. So you'd best stop losing what's LEFT of your cool!"

Sweet had his arms crossed as he was listening to this conversation. _"The irony here is astounding. Fortune used the very same "mind game" tactic of getting into Luke's head last time... now, she's the victim of Princess's plan, and it's quite clear that she does it meaner. Still though, I can't help thinking that Princess really isn't bluffing. I'll just have to keep watching, since I don't know much about her myself."_

"Aaargh!" Fortune screamed, unleashing a sudden Thundaga spell on Princess. The lightning instantly appeared and, in her anger, struck the ground with earthquake force, which shot her opponent several feet into the air. Princess was vulnerable at this moment, so Fortune decided to dash in and attack her head-on with a flying kick. She made contact.

To her surprise, Fortune saw Princess completely disappear into a sudden burst of smoke. When the smoke cleared away, the panda found herself trapped in a tangle of vines while she fell to the ground. It was apparent then that Princess had performed a substitution technique. Fortune was struggling in the vines.

"There's no sense trying to get out of that," Princess advised her fellow Angel. "Once you're trapped, there's no escape. No need to worry though. It's not fatal, so it won't hurt, hehe... much.**Leech Vine**."

Upon her last words, the vines entangling Fortune glowed a very bright purple and extracted a small portion of health and energy from her, before they vanished from sight and sense. Before disappearing, the light from the vines created a very small particle of light from Fortune's reserves, and it quickly flew its way into Princess's hand.

"Tch... that's the first honest thing you said in a while. It actually didn't hurt much." Fortune claimed.

Princess turned her back to her. "Are you serious? I've been honest since I've talked to you and Hippie the other day. Dishonesty isn't very becoming of a princess."

_(The music halts.)_

That comment struck a nerve in Fortune, who was now fed up with her. The panda's power escalated and she immersed herself in a tower of white light. When she returned to everyone's clear sight, she had six black angel wings on her back and deep crimson eyes. She assumed her Seraph Mode (Ascended Legendary power) once again.

"You aren't a princess! That's just your name!" she shouted, with slight reverberation in her voice.

_"Enough of this. Playtime's over, Fortune..."_ Princess thought, feeling like this is droning on for far too long now. "Jealous?" she replied openly.

"Hardly! Shadow Dance!" Fortune exclaimed, instantly placing herself on Princess's shadow, which she had turned her back on.

Without much hesitation or effort at all, Princess simply performed a sidestep to dodge Fortune's Radiant Blast, as if the astounding speed of her Shadow Dance was nothing. Then, with the clenched fist that contained the bright particle of light, she smacked Fortune away from her with a direct punch.

After being hit, Fortune recovered in midair by flapping her wings. Unexpectedly, she felt a searing cut to her skin on her right side. When she looked down to see it, there was a long, thorny harlequin vine extending from where she was cut to Princess's unclenched hand. She noticed that it gave off a faint grape-colored glow. Even so, Fortune knew she took a fairly bad cut, as she would then watch vine get pulled back by its owner. Fortune then fell to her knees, placing a hand on the gash that was left on her side.

**[I^I]**

"Wait... what just happened there?!" Thunderbolt spoke out in awe.

"I think everyone here wants to know that," Hippity responded. "The last time she was using Shadow Dance, Roam couldn't keep up with her—but he did manage to pull it off anyways."

Spunky had a hand under his chin. "Princess just stepped aside from that movement like she knew what was coming."

"Well, she IS a little psychic..." Canyon pointed out.

"That doesn't matter with speed," claimed Mystic. "You could have as much psychic ability as Hoppity and still be considered slow to react to some things. But what's strange is that I can't detect that Princess is using any psychic power at all... and it's up against Fortune's Shadow Dance, one of the fastest instant movements known to us."

"Okay, I'm convinced. Princess is just getting started. Fancy, you win this bet..." Kuku uttered.

"Yay! Ooh, I mean.. great!" acclaimed the cat, happily taking the $50 pot.

"That whip she has..." Mac analyzed with his Byakugan, "it's definitely not ordinary. It was made from a small sample of Fortune's energy, but even if you take out her energy, I sense that its power is deadly by itself."

"Of course it is, Mac! She just cut into Fortune's skin..." Hippity argued.

"Trust me, Hippity, it's not just the physical strength I'm worried about."

**[O^O]  
**

_(BGM change: "Creeping Shadows" — Bleach.)_

"There's just no way... no one's ever dodged my Shadow Dance." Fortune murmured, still writhing in pain.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but it didn't take much to do that." Princess replied.

Fortune fired another Radiant Blast. "Shut up!"

Princess sighed. "Please..." she muttered, lashing her whip straight upward towards the blast, causing a purple arc to come out of it. It acted as an energy blade, which managed to split the blast in half. After doing such a thing, she saw an expression of shock on the panda's face. "You're wasting your time, Fortune. My Violet Whip is made from a transfer of nearly all of my magical power, of which is equally as strong as the whip's raw power alone. It can cut through many things... even energy itself, once I take a sample from where that energy came from, that is. That's what my Leech Vine was for. So I will only say this one more time: there is no way you can win this fight against me. This match is already over."

Still upset, Fortune went on the offensive yet again. This time, she expeditiously flew her way to Princess with an angry battle cry and then hit her with a pounding punch, going over and striking her head with an intense downward motion.

Sweet heard the impact. "Ooh, that had to hurt..." he whispered to himself.

Fortune remained just above Princess, wanting to watch her hit the ground for once.

"Is that it? If so, then I think I'll do a little 'show and tell'! Suspension Kick!" spoke the purple bear, before suddenly shooting her leg upward to kick Fortune in her gut, blatantly stunning her in midair.

Fortune coughed up blood from the pain she had just taken and cried out in pain. The bad sensation from the open wound she had in her side burned now. _"What the hell is going on?!"_

Princess then took her thorny Violet Whip and wrapped it over and around Fortune's body in the air, securing her black seraph wings as well. After catching the end of the whip with her free hand, she yanked Fortune's entire body down to the floor and trapped her on the ground—this was her Vine Root technique. The thorns on the whip impaled her slightly as well.

"I hope you're in pain now, because that's the SHOW... and now, to TELL you why you lost." Princess began to say, walking around to Fortune's head so she could see her face. While she was walking, the panda's wings disappeared and her eyes returned to their normal black color. Princess then gave her a look of utter disdain. "I really hate being jealous of those wings you have... it makes me SICK!" she grumbled in a violent tone.

Although she was in deep pain, Fortune noticed the change in her attitude. "My... uhhhhgh.. wings?"

"You know the story, Fortune—you, me, Halo and Peace each have a special goal when trying to reach Seraph Mode, but our seraphs don't give us clear-cut instructions on how to get it. You just have to discover it by chance. Halo found hers when she became a nun; Peace got hers from just being in a space of peace and quiet; and you got yours while training with Lucy. I'm upset and jealous of all three of you. I can't figure out what I have to do to get my seraph wings. No matter what I do, what I read into, or what I experience... nothing ever changes."

"I can't help you, other than to say... gahhh...that you are the Angel of Heart... so to speak." Fortune told her, still fighting through the pain and struggling to escape the Violet Whip, that was tightly and uncomfortably secured on her.

Princess looked back solemnly at Fortune. "Fortune, please, stop struggling. I already told you that you couldn't win, and the reason why you can't is because of what you reminded me just now."

"Which was...?"

"That I'm the Angel of Heart," answered Princess. "I might not be able to find out what I need to do to get my six wings, but I do know the stipulations and perks of being the Angel of Heart. Since that is my title, the main thing to know is this: **'The source of any emotional negativity towards thou shall be rendered weak.'** In other words, if you think of me as anything worse than an opponent, then you will automatically be forced to be some degree weaker than how you normally are. The more you dislike me, the weaker you get... and the chances you have at beating me will just slip on by. Although it doesn't bother me one bit, you apparently hate my guts, which means you are the worst possible person to fight me. And because of the fact that you asked for this match, you've basically just sealed your own fate. This match was over before it even started. You could say that I manipulated you, but it wouldn't be true... because it wasn't my intention. And that's the bottom line."

Fortune's fighting spirit was shot down, as there was no way to prove her wrong... let alone that there was nothing she could do to win and get the vengeance she desired. Princess was right: Fortune does not like or respect her much at all, and at this moment, that discontent is her downfall.

Princess called off her Violet Whip, which freed its grip on keeping the panda grounded, but left her battle-scarred. "Like I said before, dishonesty isn't very becoming of a princess, even if the latter title wasn't really my name. I've said nothing to you that wasn't honest. This fight is senseless, Fortune... so stop trying to knock some sense into me. I'm fine just the way I am. And I will get myself a set of wings... one way or another." she claimed, walking away from her.

Sweet approached Fortune while looking back at Princess. He sensed Fortune's power slipping away too, which meant that his thought was true—Princess truly was not bluffing at all. "I know you're hurt pretty badly, but do you want to continue?" he asked Fortune.

"What else can I do? It hurts to move... and I can't just pretend to like her. Everything she does just ticks me off. This is pointless, and I feel terrible to admit that. I'm done here, Sweet."

_(The music stops.)_

Sweet nodded. "I understand," he said, before turning all around to the audience. "Fortune is unable to continue. Princess advances!"

**[I^I]  
**

"Are the Angels' powers always so hard to get around?" Dep openly asked everyone.

"Pretty much..." replied Tina, who just now returned the the press box along with Fortress and Tina.

"We just heard about Princess's special effect of being one with a seraph," Dotty began to explain. "We also know that Fortune is immune to darkness, meaning she has no elemental weakness. Halo and Peace came over to the super-computer room back home and filled me in on their abilities yesterday. Peace is empowered by internal balance—physically, energetically, and emotionally... but if any one of those are upset or hindered, the others become stronger to maintain balance. Halo, on the other hand, is impervious to any evil force for as long as her halo is present."

"That can disappear?!" Mina exclaimed, literally seeing Halo as an angel.

"Yes. It is the consequence of sinning that does this to her. That's why she became a nun, to abstain as much as possible from her transgressions. But even if it does disappear, Halo remains very strong as a mage and is a force to be reckoned with. Fortunately, neither of them are in the tournament, so they have nothing to worry about."

"Well, on to the next pair of surprises." Mac uttered, waiting patiently for the next match.

**[O^O]**

/\/\/\/\/\/\

_MATCH 3: Jabber vs. L'Amore._

"Here we are folks," Sweet announced in the center of the Aeroseum's arena. "The third match of the night! This one should be rather interesting I hope, considering the two Bean Titans on both sides of me. First, we have **Jabber Jameson**—the red parrot to my left. He's 20 years old and is best buds with Rocket; however, he thinks differently than the blue jay. He is about as fast as Rocket is, but has the fire element instead of water. So keep your eyes peeled if you can, folks. His opponent to my right is a new face here in the Bean Titans; she joined our team earlier this week. _(aside to L'Amore)_ I promise to not use your full name after tonight, okay? _(aloud) _Hailing all the way from Italy, meet Princess** L'Amore Téa Bianco**! To clear up some confusion, "L'Amore" is her first name, not Princess... and unlike the purple bear you saw earlier, this white poodle truly is royalty. Now that she's here in the Titans, she knows that she does not get any special treatment for being new; in fact, she told me herself that she doesn't want to be called 'Princess L'Amore', hehe. But I digress. We found out that she has amazing skills with ice, and that she is incredibly difficult to hit. It's time to see her in action, right now! Good luck to the both of you... Titans, THROW-DOWN!"

Jabber set his wings ablaze in preparation. He had his attention set on L'Amore, who he saw back up a few steps with a look of apprehension on her face. He turned down the heat on his wings upon noticing this, and then looked up towards the press box to find Gigi looking at him.

_"What was that warning about, Gigi?"_ Jabber wondered, thinking back to what he was told before the UNLIMITED Tournament started. _"You told me: "Be careful how you use your fire around L'Amore when you fight her." I don't understand. Her element and my element don't like each other, which means that if I play my cards right, I can beat her with mine. And when I look at her now... it looks like she's a little scared of fire. Why would I have to be careful? She might not fight back at all, so even though I'd hate to take advantage of her, I still have to try and win."_

L'Amore took a deep breath, knowing that she had to deal with a little heat in the first round. She wanted to back down, but with everyone watching her and knowing that she was a princess, she had to prove herself... even if that meant trying to fight her fear.

_(BGM Start: "Burn Dinorex Stage" — Mega Man X5.)  
_

Instead of using his burning wings, Jabber decided to swoop in with his speed and try to ram her instead. As Sweet mentioned earlier, L'Amore is absolutely not an easy target; her evasiveness is unrivaled. When Jabber came close, she would dodge him differently than she dodged Rocket in her training—making short jumps and sidestepping him. Jabber stopped flying after a while.

"How are you able to dodge like that?" asked the parrot.

L'Amore did not say a word, still cautious about his elemental strength.

Jabber resumed the fight with an approach that was not tested yet—close combat. Unfortunately, even as he was constantly throwing his arms, wings and legs at her, she would evade or block every attack still.

**[I^I]  
**

"I'd say I am about to win a bet over Mac, but I don't want to sound competitive..." Dotty started to speak out, "and that the match isn't over yet."

"Indeed," responded the cardinal, before he turned his attention to Gigi. "I went the Memory Room the other day and watched L'Amore's first moments in the Danger Room. Gigi, do you know why she reacted strangely when Jabber was heating Rocket's wings up?"

Gigi looked off solemnly. "I promised my cousin that I wouldn't talk about that. I'm sorry to say this, but you'll have to figure that out yourself."

"Hmm, now that you bring that up, I might have a good guess." Floppity uttered, entering the conversation. "As it is with Black Magic, fire and ice are opposed—they are weak to each other. Either Jabber or L'Amore could win the match if they are effective with their elemental strength and careful with their weaknesses. I'm sure Jabber doesn't want to be frozen solid, so the same could be said for L'Amore, in that she can't take the heat."

"So is she scared of fire?" asked Sweet, listening to everyone in the press box through an earpiece.

"Yes," Mystic answered, "I can sense it. The way she stepped back after you started the match was because she doesn't like the sight of Jabber's fire. I can tell you that it nearly frightens her, almost."

"Pyrophobia—in a word." Dotty uttered.

"That's concerning..." Sweet murmured. "So she's trying to face her fear right now, right? I admire her perseverance, but will it last I wonder?"

Gigi looked on in a bit of worry. _"If she doesn't quit first, Jabber needs to get out of there, while he still can..."_

**[O^O]**

"Just stand still!" exclaimed the parrot, still trying to hit L'Amore. He accelerated his attack speed and managed to make contact with her, only to be suddenly frozen as soon as he touched her. She had also disappeared from sight in this instant, and came back immediately to kick him from behind with an Icebreaker Kick. The counter-trap technique she did before freezing him was called Sub Zero Substitution.

_"Damn, that hurts.." _Jabber thought to himself as he was getting up. _"That's it. Warning or no warning, Gigi—all bets are off now! I gotta do what I have to do!"_

The parrot got up and turned around to see L'Amore preparing her fearsome Ice Beam, motioning her arms around in a sense. To stop her before she was finished focusing, he slapped his wings on the ground and made a sudden fire burst up from the ground between himself and L'Amore.

The white poodle gasped and bulged her eyes momentarily, just before stopping her motion completely. The sight of the bursting flames frightened her and practically made her heart stop for a moment, and then quicken in pace afterwards. Her breathing became more rapid, as the very temperature from the fire made her weak.

At that moment, Jabber knew that she was afraid of fire and that it had a deteriorating effect on her. "Gotcha now..." he murmured, flying through the spurt of fire and attempting to strike L'Amore. This time, he actually did hit her, knocking her several feet backwards.

L'Amore was struggling to get up because she felt weak to the flames. As she was rising she looked around at the crowd watching. They were eating up the action from their seats and she knew that many other people were watching from home as well. _"I feel like crying and running... but I can't. Which means__—_Jabber, you're not going to like this." she was thinking to herself, fighting the urge to surrender.

**[I^I]**

Sweet noticed the sudden change on her face. "Some of her fear is gone..." he said to himself, noticing that she was less frightened. He was wondering what she was doing.

"Sweet," alerted Dotty, "L'Amore's vitality and defense levels are fairly low, but at the same time, her adrenaline level is at 800—which is VERY high."

"What does that mean?"

"She's weak, that's for sure because of the fire... but somehow, that fear of hers is being transferred into her adrenaline as if she is suppressing it somehow. Having your adrenaline high is quite dangerous, and in effect, L'Amore will have some trouble breathing eventually. It can't go above 1,000, so whatever she's doing, she's gotta hurry up and get a chance to recuperate before she reaches that limit. However, if she uses an offensive special move at Jabber with her adrenaline that high, the effect of her attack will be at least doubled than what it normally is. Risk versus reward, basically."

Sweet looked to be a bit concerned. "She's fighting her fear, but at such a cost.."

**[O^O]**

Jabber, on the other hand, was acting on the momentum he just gained and cared not about what L'Amore was thinking about his previous attack. He flew into the air and inflamed his entire body to enhance his Aerial Ace attack, the same high-impact flying move that Rocket previously used.

"_**Bianca Luna**_." uttered L'Amore, causing a moderately large circle of bright white light to surround her while she stood in the center of it in a white aura.

"Standing there and powering up is a bad idea!" Jabber yelled out, using a speed boost on his way towards her after swooping down close to the ground.

L'Amore jumped backward, so that she landed just outside the edge of the circle. "Who said I was powering up?" she replied, closing her eyes.

_(The music stops.)_

Before Jabber could have a thought about what she just said, he flew right over the white circle of light. Instantly, a large pillar of cold ice filled the entire circle and towered to heights unheard of, trapping Jabber in the process and extinguishing his fire as well. Having overcome her fear at the moment, L'Amore found the resolve she needed to end the match, at the expense of some exhaustion of course.

"Bianca Luna... Italian for "white moon" in your language." L'Amore began to talk, pausing frequently to catch her breath. "Now you know why I told you to keep fire away from me. I won't like it—" she paused, before turning around and snapping her fingers once to break all of the ice indirectly. "And you won't like it either."

L'Amore then dropped to her knees and started to breathe rapidly.

Sweet came in to check the status of Jabber, and found that he had serious frostbite. He had no choice.

"Jabber is unable to continue this fight. The winner is L'Amore!"

The crowd cheered loudly for her, knowing that it was her first week here in the Bean Titans. Although she appreciated it, L'Amore almost did not pay them any mind at all because she was still trying to get over her nerves. Like Dotty said, she found it hard to breathe at the moment.

Mac came down. "What do we do here?" he asked Sweet, seeing both of the combatants in some sort of malady.

"Escort L'Amore backstage and see if you can find Hippie or my sons. They'll help her calm down and breathe better. I'll see what I can do with Jabber."

Kuku suddenly appeared next to Mac, coming out of black smoke. She was holding a vial containing a very warm black substance. "You won't have to do that, Sweet. Scorch sent this to the press box just in case someone caught what Jabber just caught. He said that it would cure them right out of their frozen state."

"That's one smart dragon..." Sweet murmured. "Okay Kuku, go ahead and take Jabber backstage and use that on him. Scorch can't really give you any instructions because he has a match in a few moments, but I'm sure you can figure it out."

With that said, the couple of birds took L'Amore and Jabber to the backstage area to do what Sweet had requested of them.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

_MATCH 4: Scorch vs. Bronto._

"All right folks!" Sweet announced. "Get ready for our fourth match of the night! For those of you that came and witnessed our first UNLIMITED Tournament, you'll notice that these two Bean Titans fought before, and will go at it right now. It's a contest of fire and flames, once again! **Scorch Fox—**the fearsome dragon to my left, made it all the way to the semifinals this past Monday and very much dominated his competition until his defeat occurred. His opponent to my right, on the other hand—**Bronto Pierce** had lost his first match that night against this very dragon right here, but is looking for some redemption and says that if nothing else gets accomplished, he wants to overcome Scorch. Like always, I say give it your best and nothing less! Titans, THROW-DOWN!"

_(The previous song, "Burn Dinorex Stage", continues.)_

_"I hope I'm ready for this..."_ Bronto thought, as he waited a few seconds before running straight for the dragon.

"You're not serious, are you?" Scorch openly questioned, prepared to counter with a simple swing of his tail.

Unexpectedly, Bronto suddenly latched on to the hard-hitting tail and used its momentum to swing around and strike Scorch with a kick to the head, sending him back several feet.

**[I^I]**

"I don't hear any competitive speeches. What's going on?" asked Dep.

"Sweet told us not to bet on this match," replied Mystic, "because it was 'strictly serious': his exact words."

"Well the difference in power is pretty obvious to me; Scorch is much more skilled than Bronto. I still can't see why this match is happening again..." Canyon uttered.

Mac turned his head. "Canyon, notice how quiet Sweet is right now. As usual, you need to take after him and be the same as he is."

"What's that supposed to mean?" the cougar retorted.

"It means he's expecting to see something new to happen and that this rematch really is a big deal, especially for Bronto."

"Well, I doubt he'll be able to catch on to Scorch's tail again—it hurts, it's heavy, and it's dangerous." Thunderbolt stated, shaking his head in a bit of concern for Bronto.

"That holds true. Bronto would be stupid not to have a plan this time around, and after four days apart, I'm sure he has one." Aurora summated.

**[O^O]  
**

While those in the press box were talking, Bronto and Scorch were in burst combat, physically striking each other at a very high speed. Scorch had scored more hits in and ended the combat session by hitting Bronto with an elbow after a Flash Step.

The young Titan recovered quickly and fired two large flaming spheres at Scorch as he fell from getting hit by the elbow.

"Please..." Scorch uttered, staying right where he was in the air and letting the spheres hit him. "Don't tell me that you've forgotten about my Burning Resolve perk. I'm not affected by any fire attacks."

_(The music halts.)_

Bronto did not say a word and proceeded to fly at Scorch. The dragon was not moved, as he then fired a large fireball from his mouth and hit his opponent, sending him back down to the floor. This process repeated four more times in a time span of two minutes, but Bronto still found the strength to get up after all the failed attempts.

_"What could Bronto be planning? He's taking a lot of hits."_ Sweet wondered.

"I'm going to end this," began Scorch, while he rose his wings up. "It doesn't look like you're taking this seriously."

_(BGM change: "Last Battle Versus Rival" __—_ Pokémon (anime).)

With that said, the dragon ascended to his Unleashed Mode once again, with his wings now burning in blue flames, which were more powerful and dangerous than his normal red flames. He then summoned his most fearsome Meteor Shower yet, called Meteor Storm in his Ascended Legendary state. It expended 75% of his total energy capacity, but the number of flaming comets that fell down tripled in quantity and instead of randomly hitting all places on the arena floor, they homed in around his target more often.

"Oh crap!" Sweet exclaimed, realizing that he was clearly in a danger zone. Mac quickly came to warp Sweet to the press box to save him.

_"All right, I only have one shot at this! It's now or never! Eternal NulBlaze!"_ Bronto thought, beginning to yell at the top of his lungs and powering up, even as he was taking on the furious assault of the falling fire comets head-on. There was also a very faint red aura sphere surrounding his body.

**[I^I]**

Everyone (including the crowd) watched in different levels of awe of what Bronto was doing.

"IS HE MAD?!" shouted Fancy, her mouth agape from the shock of the young Titan's actions.

"Mac, I don't think he has a plan. He's taking all of Scorch's attacks without protecting himself very much!" Canyon added.

Spunky noticed that his wife was studying the current situation with haste and her facial expressions were changing quickly. "I don't know about that Canyon... I think Dotty's about to prove you wrong."

The dalmatian nodded. "I've just summed up the data I am getting now," Dotty began to explain. "According to the Master Libra program, there is a nearly invisible light red aura around Bronto called Eternal NulBlaze. It's just as the name sounds—a NulBlaze spell that lasts and lasts. Sounds like Scorch's Burning Resolve right?"

"Yes, exactly like it." Fleece replied, trying to grasp the concept along with everyone else in the press box.

"Well... here's the different part. It is another "risk versus reward" technique and, believe it or not, it affects his adrenaline levels too. Here's why. To cast Eternal NulBlaze, Bronto had to expend all of his magical power and most of his elemental energy. In turn, it gives him an incredible defense stat... AND every time he negates a fire-based move, his physical strength gets boosted by a fairly large margin. Considering the fact that he is taking on Scorch's attacks means that if he were to punch Scorch hard enough, he could very well knock off a quarter of his health very easily. However, the risk comes into play because he's essentially fighting on his own strength, which can fade quickly... especially against extremely strong fire moves, even though he is denying any and all fire damage. The reason why this is the case is that his adrenaline levels are affected as well; he can and will exhaust himself if he does not go all-out against Scorch. Still, I wonder how he managed to learn something like this in less than a week's time."

This information astounded everyone, including Sweet, since he was warped inside the press box by Mac. Some of them looked back to the action to see that Bronto was in midair, flying up and bashing through the meteors that Scorch was sending down.

"You said..." Sweet began, "that extremely powerful fire attacks can quickly wear Bronto out. If that is the case, then the real test of the Eternal NulBlaze would be the force behind Scorch's Blue Star Inferno. I remember what Scorch said last time he used it. It burns anything within 10 feet of its reach."

Mac grunted after he set his eyes on Scorch to see what he was doing. "Don't look now, but we're about to see what happens when that test is made a reality."

"Oh boy...!" Mina and Tina uttered simultaneously.

**[O^O]**

_(BGM change: "Hollowed" — Bleach.)_

It was true. The dragon had already fully charged his greatest fire blast into a large sphere from his mouth.

"No! I'm gonna win this time!" Bronto shouted, still in his pumped state. Soon enough, he had successfully fended himself against Scorch's fierce Meteor Storm, but now, he had to deal with the granddaddy of all of Scorch's fire blasts.

Scorch narrowed his eyes. "Please! There's no way you can survive this attack head-on like you did my Meteor Storm. Especially when I call out the name of the attack..."

"You can't stop me!"

"Well that's too bad. Fine then, you've lost... Blue Star Inferno!" exclaimed Scorch, unleashing his intense burning blast in full force, directly at Bronto.

The young Bean Titan gave out a fierce battle cry, just before he hit the head of the beam. In what was probably the most intense clash yet, Scorch's Blue Star Inferno was being nearly matched in power to Bronto's Eternal NulBlaze. The searing flames were expanding wide and out from the impact caused by the head of the beam to the incredibly powerful fire barrier. The young Titan, however, slowly forced his way through the fearsome fire blast with whatever reserves he had in not only his "Eternal" NulBlaze, but with his own body as well. Dotty was right. Even though he is very much impervious to fire attacks and that they strengthen his physical power, it takes a large toll on his body.

Scorch was shocked. _"How is he doing this...?"_ he thought, absolutely perplexed as to how Bronto is taking on his most powerful attack, and beating it back as it seems. Still, the dragon continued to force his attack, trying to overpower his opponent.

Bronto continued to yell, now halfway through to Scorch. Unfortunately, his strength began to leave him and once he felt it, he knew that he was running out quickly. He had no choice now.

Scorch saw Bronto completely fall out of the Blue Star Inferno, gradually descending nearly lifeless to the arena floor. "I told you," Scorch murmured softly, "you've lost. Sorry." With those words said, Scorch flew down and tried to slam Bronto with his tail, which is what granted him victory in the last tournament.

With little consciousness, Bronto still sensed that Scorch was coming to finish him. Even with his body feeling extremely fatigued, he did not have the notion to give up. _"No! I can't lose this! I... I have enough for one more attack. I'm gonna make this COUNT!"_

When Scorch swung his tail, Bronto's eyes suddenly opened wide and he latched on to the dragon's tail again... but this time, he used all the strength he attained from every fire attack used against him to suddenly overpower Scorch, twirling his entire body by his tail as they continued to fall. Once they were both about twenty feet from the floor, Bronto released Scorch's tail by whipping him down to the ground with authority, stunning his entire body upon impact.

"Aaaaugh!" Scorch coughed, to having his air supply leave him instantly. In the next two seconds, he saw Bronto still falling towards his body, but leading with his fist, now emblazoned in a golden aura. The next thing he knew, that very fist was plunged at the core of his torso, causing him to completely halt his bodily functions.

"Dragon Fist!" Bronto yelled out, after hitting Scorch with his power-packed fist.

_(The music concludes.)_

A brief moment of silence occurred, before a golden light shot out from underneath Scorch and up to the skies above. At the top of the light was the shape of an ancient dragon's face, which roamed in and out of the skies above until the light faded away completely. Scorch was left with a dip in his core, completely unconscious as well.

Seeing that the battle was finally at a standstill, Sweet came down and verified the situation. Scorch was out cold, and Bronto was barely breathing, now laying on the floor beside the dragon. He nodded before making his announcement. "Ladies and gentlemen, Scorch is unable to battle! The victory goes to Bronto! What a match!"

The crowd roared with excitement and applauded the efforts of both of the Bean Titans.

"I... I did it." Bronto managed to say, struggling extremely hard to get back to his feet.

Sweet was proud of Bronto, standing up to the challenge of a tough opponent. It was unbelievable that he managed to pull it off, and just four days apart from fighting Scorch last time.

Suddenly, Sweet got an alert from Dotty. He put a hand to his earpiece. "What is it?" he asked.

"Bronto's adrenaline level broke 1,000. He is about to pass out right now, for a good week. I wouldn't let him fight in the next round. I'm telling you, he just can't do anymore tonight." she reported.

Just as she said it and when Sweet looked back to Bronto, he saw the young Titan just collapse, his eyes closed and his body completely motionless.

"Fleece, Mac, Mystic... get down here pronto, and take them both backstage." Sweet requested of them with haste. While the three of them were doing as he asked, he turned to the crowd and had a Watcher camera assist him in making a new announcement. "Ladies and gentlemen, listen to me closely. Bronto is also unable to compete any further due to the fact that he has completely exhausted all of his energy. It would be unwise to have him continue on tonight, so here is what is going to happen. Since L'Amore would have been Bronto's next opponent, L'Amore will automatically advance to the semifinals against the winner of the fight between Nibbly and Princess. We will continue with the second half of the first round shortly. Thank you."**  
**

**/-/**

**Intense, isn't it? And this is only the first round.  
**

**More to come in the next chapter.**


	16. Overcoming the Odds, Part 2

**AN: References used [previously]: Teen Titans, Justice League Unlimited, Final Fantasy (VII: Crisis Core, X, & XII), Marvel/X-Men, Pokémon, Kids Next Door, Dragonball Z, Capcom, Naruto, WWE, TNA Impact, Family Guy, Bleach, Code Geass, Sonic Adventure 2, Xiaolin Showdown, Bakugan Battle Brawlers, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, One Piece, Star Wars, Mortal Kombat, and Yu Yu Hakusho.****  
****In this chapter: Final Fantasy Tactics Advance ("TA")**_._

**WARNING: Lots of Bleach music used here. I do not own the original soundtrack of the series, or ANY OTHER series for that matter.**

Chapter 16 — Overcoming the Odds, Part II

After necessary matters where attended to, the 2nd UNLIMITED Tournament was ready to be resumed, with the second half of the first round.

To recap: Nibbly, Princess, L'Amore and Bronto have defeated (respectively) Kicks, Fortune, Jabber and Scorch so far in the first round. However, due to a serious case of energy exhaustion, Bronto cannot continue fighting in the tournament, which leaves L'Amore to be automatically pushed into the semifinals, with either Nibbly or Princess as her opponent. Whatever happens will indeed happen.

* * *

_MATCH 5: Nibbler vs. Tiny.  
_

"Thank you kindly for your patience," announced Sweet, to the exceedingly large and cheering audience in the Aeroseum. "On with the show, with our fifth match of the night! To my left, we have **Nibbler Simmons**—Nibbly's twin sister, despite the fact that she has beige skin instead of gray. If you haven't noticed already, ladies and gentlemen, our genetics is very weird and confusing. But again, I digress. Nibbler's element is fire, and can also use various Shen Gong Wu like her brothers. To make note of that, I believe that satchel bag she's wearing is called "Arrow Sparrow", if I'm not mistaken. Anyways, she is also the smartest of her siblings, being able to plan things out even in the course of battle. Will that help her against her opponent, **Tiny Mendez**, to my right? This 20-year-old chihuahua may appear shorter than most of the other Bean Titans, but believe me, she's one tough cookie! Metal is her element, which may not be best to fight against a fire user.. but hey, I've seen the disadvantaged person come out on top many times. Anything could happen! All right Titans, let's THROW-DOWN!"

_(BGM: "Brain Cleaner" — F-Zero GX.)_

Nibbler wasted little time, whipping out a golden antique star with a ruby gemstone in the center of it. She aimed it at Tiny. "Star Hanabi, Fire!" she called out, before the star she held would then shoot as many as ten fireballs at her opponent.

To dodge, Tiny rolled out of the way of the incoming fireballs.

"Hi!" the bunny greeted, as she appeared right beside the chihuahua after her roll. She swung her leg at her.

Tiny caught her leg, just in time. "Not good enough!" she spoke out, before literally slinging Nibbler's entire body over her by her leg and tossing her away.

Soon enough, Nibbler would recover in mid-air by performing a special type of flip. "Judolette Flip, Fire!" she shouted, successfully landing on her feet and at that instant, would gain a sudden speed burst towards Tiny, leading with a fiery leg to kick her with.

Tiny simply crossed her arms in front of her upper body, causing her entire body to shine briefly. She took on Nibbler's flaming kick with her Iron Defense technique. Despite being weak to fire, Tiny warded off a great deal of damage.

"My turn..." Tiny murmured, forcing the bunny away from her by releasing her arms and performing a Repulse, a quick burst of energy that repelled anything in close range of her. Not allowing Nibbler any time to recover, Tiny swiftly went on the offensive, striking Nibbler with many iron-hard punches and kicks. After a couple of moments, Tiny knocked Nibbler away by shooting a shiny orb of energy called a Mirror Shot.

The bunny's back collided with the outer wall of the battle arena, causing her to bounce off of it and land on the floor afterwards.

"Ready to give up, _**conejita**_?" Tiny asked, while standing in the center of the arena watching her opponent get up slowly.

Nibbler sighed. "I don't even know what that means..."

"It means 'little bunny'. Seriously, some of you should learn some Spanish."

"Right now, I'm trying to win... not learn a few words. So get ready!"

"With your weak fire attacks? Oh please!" Tiny began to claim, putting her hands on her hips to scoff. "Trust me Nibbler, you don't even compare to any other fire user in the Bean Titans. The fire from that star of yours didn't really phase me—it wasn't strong at all and it wasn't hard to dodge either. And your flaming kick was only as strong as a simple Flamethrower attack, something I could easily survive, even without Iron Defense. You could go all out into your Wudai Mode and still wouldn't be much of a force because my weakness is something you can't quite take advantage of! I wouldn't even bother trying to do that, so just throw in the towel, girl... I'm gonna win this one."

Nibbler remained silent and still for a few moments. In those moments, her ears would slowly motion up and down strangely.

**[I^I]**

"What is she doing?" Mina questioned out of curiosity.

"And what's with her ears?" Tina added.

"I actually don't know, but so far, I'm winning a bet against Floppity." Mystic replied, looking in the lavender bunny's direction.

Floppity simply broke out into laughter, almost giggling, as she made her way out of the press box to take a bathroom break. This left many of the other Titans confused.

"Okay... that was weird." Canyon uttered. "Hippity, any reason why she did that? She's your wife."

The green bunny shrugged. "I'm just as dumbfounded as you are, partner."

"I might have your answer to that," Dotty began to offer her words, turning away from the status boards for a moment. "A few years ago, when I was teaching some of the younger Titans how to work all of the technology we have, a few of them understood it and seemed to be more efficient with it than the rest. Among the names were Bonnie, Congo and Nibbler. Bonnie, of course, is now the smarts of the New 12. Congo actually was the one that taught the rest of his brothers how to maneuver the Air Raiders we have at the Sky Base, so without his knowledge of that, everyone that went to Subspace wouldn't have made it out alive. Nibbler... to the point at hand, has this strange characteristic that when she has a clear battle plan or thought process, her ears do those motions. I asked myself: why doesn't Nibbly do that as well, since they are twins after all? Then it hit me once Sweet mentioned "genetics" earlier. Hippity has one ear that stands up, just above parallel to the ground, while the other one droops down like both of Floppity's ears. Because of the suspension that Hippity's right ear has, Nibbly's ears always stand up... and because Floppity is more of an acrobatic fighter, Nibbler has a bit of motion in her ears and they never stand on end like her brother's does."

Canyon lowered his eyes and sweat-dropped. "As interesting and true as that may be, that didn't answer my question, Dotty." he responded rather dully.

"I'll answer it then," Gigi interjected, speaking on Dotty's behalf. "Floppity left because she knows that Nibbler is going to win this, and that she has a plan to make that happen because of the ear movements. Like I said before, both Nibbly and Nibbler have two special, or passive, abilities. They both have Nimbletoe—which is agility and energy control boosts in a nutshell. Nibbly has his Lithos Armor—his tough skin layer that sustains a lot of damage. Nibbler's second ability is called **Rising Sun**."

"Rising Sun?" Dotty asked, not having heard of the ability herself. At the same time, she was astounded at how much knowledge Gigi gained as well.

"It's not hard to understand really, but if you are her opponent, I would recommend trying to beat her before she gets a chance to do much of anything... otherwise you're finished. Here's why. The main concept of Rising Sun is this: the more harm you do to her, the more harm that she will deliver right back at you. In other words, do not, under any circumstances, think that she is weak when she is fatigued. Her offense, especially her fire strength, gets stronger and stronger until she zeroes out." Gigi pauses to move over to the status boards and expand them so that everyone in the press box could see them. "Tiny was right, in that the fire attacks she took were weak, but that was when Nibbler was close to fighting on full stamina. For every fraction of stamina she loses, Nibbler's offense, defense, special attacks (fire), accuracy, adrenaline, and even her Nimbletoe perks are all boosted, unless she is affected by paralysis, temporary blindness, or anything of that sort. Her defense is the least boosted, however, compared to the others. To put it in perspective now, her stamina is 65%... which means her fire skills are about at the levels of Tracker and Rover at their best. So now, she is a fair threat to her opponent. If Tiny manages to crack Nibbler down to 20% stamina, Nibbler's fire offense should very well match Scorch's... and if it gets to about 10%, then she will possibly become even more dangerous than Scorch on Unleashed Mode. At that point, Tiny can only end it quickly, or accept a quick, painful defeat. Nibbler still will get exhausted though, since her adrenaline is affected too."

"Ah, I see. It's not a hard concept to understand..." Dotty said, changing the status boards back to a personal setting.

"Right, but if you are fighting Nibbler, you won't realize it until she hits you. You could have one of the best defenses around, but if she ever gets into a very critical state, Nibbler's fire might put it to shame."

**[O^O]  
**

Having waiting enough, Nibbler decided to increase her power level, as her body would respond to this by blackening into a silhouette and showing thick, bright red lining on her skin. This was her Wudai Mode manifesting.

"You told me to not even try fighting you on Wudai power..." Nibbler spoke out. "Well, I accept your challenge, but just know that you're the one that is about to lose."

Tiny scoffed. "Hah! Don't make me laugh! You're wasting your time, I'm telling you. I could walk towards you quite slowly and by the time I get to you, you're gonna regret it."

The chihuahua took her first step, which made Nibbler take action by rapidly spinning two streams of fire around her arms. "You won't get the chance. Now just shut up and fight! Wudai Mars, Fire!" the bunny shouted, combining both fire streams together and unleashing it towards Tiny.

Tiny sighed, quickly conjuring a white ball of energy from her hand and then pointed it at the incoming fire stream. Remarkably, despite feeling the pressure and being swallowed up in the attack, the energy ball Tiny held had just enough power to somehow redirect and absorb much of the fire, much to the surprise of everyone witnessing the action. "Metal Burst," announced Tiny, which caused the energy ball to suddenly burst towards Nibbler at a breakneck speed.

_(The music stops.)_

Even with the Nimbletoe passive ability, Nibbler did not have enough speed to dodge this attack, and it did a lot of damage, forcing her back to the wall once more. Pleased that she was winning, Tiny continued to slowly walk towards her.

**[I^I]**

"Metal Burst?" spoke a curious Mystic, whose eyes were wide from the last attack.

"I know that move," Dep stated, "because my daughter used it before in training. Metal Burst is a retaliation move. It deals damage based on the last attack you were hit by at any point. The same amount of damage you took from the last attack, plus half, is how much Metal Burst will do to your target. It's exclusive to those with the metal element, and with its power, they can turn the tables on anyone. Trouble can rise though, if the attack they take on is too strong for the energy ball to absorb. In that case, you would suffer the full heat of the incoming attack."

"Wow... and that Wudai Mars looked pretty strong too. If Tiny does that again, Nibbler's time is up." Fancy murmured.

"It already is! Look, she isn't really moving too much!" Canyon pointed out.

Floppity came back from her restroom break, returning to her seat in the press box once Canyon stopped talking. "She's still going to win," she claimed.

The cougar shook his head in disbelief. "You must be out of your mind!"

Mac groaned. "This is why you shouldn't jump to conclusions! Dotty knows how the match is going to turn out because she has all the information she needs, whether it is a statistic or an attribute. Until she gives us a hint or if one of the Bean Titans surrenders, you can't judge an outcome. Besides, you have to keep in mind that Nibbler has her Rising Sun passive ability."

Dotty nodded, as she was collecting the data from the latest moment of the match. "Both Floppity and Mac are right. And like Gigi said before, Nibbler has a plan... and it's apparent that part of it is being pushed to a risky, critical state. Now that her vitality levels are less than 10%, her offense, especially anything fire-based, is very much near its absolute greatest. She is stronger than Scorch at his best now. I know how much defense that Tiny can gain by using Iron Defense and I also know the threshold for how much power that Tiny's Metal Burst can hold. Believe me when I say this: none of those safety precautions will matter now. Nibbler's elemental strength is too strong. If she's lucky, Tiny will survive up to 3 fire moves."

"Well with the way she's just pacing towards her without being aware of all this, I don't think Tiny cares about that pretty much." Spunky replied as he watched on.

**[O^O]  
**

"Looks like I tuckered you out. Such a shame, _**conejita**_. Looks like you lost the challenge..." Tiny began to trash talk, before lightly kicking a small golden sparrow figurine, one of many found around Nibbler. "And you lost your little birdies too."

Nibbler was heard taking steady breaths, but strangely seen pressing her finger against the tile floor of the battleground.

"You're still up? How many times do I have to tell you? You won't win..."

Nibbler managed to give out a grin before suddenly "flicking" her finger off of the floor. "Furnace," she managed to say.

_(BGM Change: "Theme of Chun-Li" — Marvel vs. Capcom 3.)_

In the next instant, a ring of bright yellow fire surrounded Tiny from the floor up to Tiny's chest.

"WHAT THE?!" the chihuahua freaked out, realizing that Nibbler somehow still had some fight in her, and that the power behind fire she was suddenly trapped by was drastically stronger than anything she has seen from Nibbler in this fight yet. She tried to step out of the fire, but it burned her dearly and completely singed her foot. It was a trap she could not escape.

_"I see what Nibbler did there,"_ Sweet thought, still watching as the all-time referee of the tournament. _"She was faking her surrender to trick Tiny, and while she was doing that, she was channeling her fire energy into a specific place, in the shape of an open circle big enough to surround the area that Tiny was standing over. And after hearing about Rising Sun from the press box, that fiery energy of hers is scary right now... Tiny has no chance. It's over."_

To end the fight, Nibbler got up to her feet, trudged her way past Tiny and then called upon her Arrow Sparrow, commanding the bird figurines on the ground to set themselves aflame and then fly up into the air, before making a kamikaze-styled assault onto Tiny. Small explosions followed upon every impact.

"Cool girls... don't look at explosions." Nibbler said, as she kneeled in her exhaustion.

After that last line, Sweet came to check on Tiny. His thoughts were right. "Tiny is unable to battle! The win goes to Nibbler!"

The crowd all over the Aeroseum was ecstatic and completely fascinated by every bit of action they were seeing.

_(The music fades away.)_

**(Also, Floppity won her bet for this match. Here are the current standings on the all of the bets:**  
_$20 (lowest prize secured) = Aurora [winning the bet on the women's Battle Royale]_  
_$50 = Floppity, Hippity, Fancy, and Dotty [from 1st round wins, so far]_  
_Sweet, Canyon, Spunky and Fleece have yet to participate or place their bets._  
_Mac, Kuku, Aurora (keeping his $20) and Mystic have all lost and cannot place any further bets.)_

/\/\/\/\/\/\

_MATCH 6: Fetch vs. Waddle._

"Plenty more action coming your way, ladies and gentlemen, with our sixth match of the night!" began Sweet, who turned all around to everyone sitting in the stands of the Aeroseum. The Watcher cameras danced all over the place until one of them flew in and focused on one of the combatants. "The young man on camera there, to my left, is **Fetch Harrington** (age 19)—Tracker's brother. He's not quite as strong as his brother, but Fetch certainly makes up for it with his own unique abilities. Aside from being able to use normal blasts and such, Fetch is a Time Mage, meaning that he can speed up, slow down, and possibly even stop the actions of nearly any moving thing, and even his own actions as well. His opponent to my right is **Waddle Swift**, who has made a name for himself by winning a big tournament involving nearly all of the Bean Titans, back when he was 8 years old. Now at age 13, he hopes to repeat such a feat today. Will this penguin's ice powers outlast Fetch? Let us find out! Titans, THROW-DOWN!"

_(BGM: "Shaar - __As the Wrench Turns__" — Ratchet Deadlocked.)_

At the start of the fight, Fetch immediately showed off a light golden aura and casted Haste, which sped up his every action, movement speed included. This was shown when a cluster of scarlet "rings" revolved in circles around his body quickly.

"My Flash Freeze is faster than that!" Waddle claimed, shooting out a fast white snowflake at the canine.

Fetch simply tilted his body away. "No it isn't," he replied with a confident smile.

The penguin growled, now beginning to shoot out many Flash Freeze snowflakes at the golden retriever.

Sweet, as usual, was analyzing the situation. _"Hmm..."_ he thought, _"Fetch casting Haste on himself was a pretty good idea. Not only does it increase his energy speed and agility, but also increases his reaction time as well. Waddle has to try hard to hit him now."_

Failing to hit him even once, Waddle had to brace for Fetch's offense, which came with many punches and kicks. Fetch easily had the upper hand now, pushing Waddle around the place as if he were a pinball. Soon enough, the penguin would have enough of this. Waddle recovered after hitting the ground one last time and then performing a Flash Step, to place himself ten feet away from where he landed, now on his feet. He looked to see Fetch running at him from the other side of the arena, generating a disk of Ki energy above his head that he called the Destructo Disk.

Seconds later, Waddle would slam his hands down on the floor and crouch down at the same time, causing two bright blue pulses of light to appear in an instant. "Ice Rink!" he shouted. Upon his command, the entire floor of the battleground changed from the normal Danger Room-esque tiles to a complete flat sheet of ice.

"Destruct—oh! Whoa, whoa, whoa!" uttered Fetch, as he began to slide on the ice for a few seconds until he inevitably fell on his back, still sliding towards Waddle. The disk of energy completely subsided as well.

**[I^I]**

"Looks like your odds of winning this bet are SLIPPING now!" Canyon boasted at Spunky, who had a $25 share riding on his son's victory.

The cocker spaniel lowered his eyes. "Canyon, that was a bad joke and you know that..."

"I'll say." Mac groaned, with one of his wings covering his face in dissatisfaction.

The cougar rolled his eyes, getting over the judgments of his attempt at a good joke. "Well, at least I'm excited about winning a bet. Felix always told me how good his buddy was on ice, so I'm gonna say that Waddle is on the fast track right now."

"Canyon," called Fancy in a light tone, "what about what Mac said about jumping to conclusions?"

"Oh no-no-no! He's not proving me wrong this time!"

Mac turned his head to Canyon, lowering his wing as well. "Oh really? If you have money on Waddle, then why don't you put it where your mouth is too? If you prove me wrong, I'll be quiet for the rest of the tournament. If Waddle doesn't win, you'll be the quiet one instead. Sound good?"

Everyone else in the press box was ignoring their conversation and focusing on the situation inside the arena.

"Fine then, deal." Canyon replied, getting up and shaking Mac's wing to make it official.

**[O^O]**

Fetch was now against the outer wall of the arena, trying to stand on the slippery ice that Waddle instantly created in place of the normally tiled battleground. He saw the penguin now sliding closer him on the front side of his body from the middle of the stage. Hoping to stop him, Fetch fired simple Ki Blasts at him.

"Ha!" Waddle uttered coyly, simply changing the direction of his slide almost freely and effortlessly to avoid the blasts. "Now you're too slow!"

Fetch was surprised. "How does he do that?" he asked himself, before Waddle would come into close quarters of him. He saw that the penguin had focused a lot of elemental energy into his beak and was planning on leading with it as a direct attack, spinning his body as well. Fetch dodged at the last moment with a Flash Step, to put him into the air.

The effect of Waddle's attack, called Torpedo Icebreaker, caused a sudden and strong outburst of ice to shoot out upon hitting a relatively solid surface. Waddle hit the outer wall and bounced into the air after Fetch, similar to how the ice flew out from the impact.

"Icy Wind!" Waddle called out, beckoning a very chilly wind to sweep across Fetch to distract him while making a follow-up attack. The penguin then struck Fetch to the ground with an axe kick.

Fetch hit the icy floor, breaking it on the spot where he landed. "Ouch!" he exclaimed. He regained his composure quickly, however, when he thought of a plan that might help him win. It was a risky one, but he had to at least try it.

Waddle was still in the air, now preparing the Crystal Storm, one of his signature techniques. He first created a thick chunk of ice above him and then broke it, so that as many as twenty large icicles where floating around him. Waddle would then direct them to attack his opponent.

Before giving him the chance to unleash the assault, Fetch crossed his index fingers towards Waddle. "Stop!" he announced, casting another Time Magic spell by which the effect matches its name. Pale green rings, much like Haste's red rings, appeared around Waddle, but instead slowed to a quick halt before disappearing from sight. Any action that Waddle was doing, regardless of what it was, was ceased; he was literally stopped in the air around his icicles. This spell is risky, in that Stop uses up a lot of magical power, and it only works successfully every one out of four times. If it works, Fetch is given up to 30 seconds of free time before the spell's effect wears off.

_"Lucky move... now what are you going to do, Fetch?"_ Sweet thought, still watching from a distance.

_(BGM Change: "Volt Kraken Stage" — Mega Man X5.)_

Using his time, Fetch powered up fully to his Chronos Mode (Ascended Legendary), where a flash of light engulfed him before he was revealed to be wearing lavender wizard robes and a slightly pointy red hat, holding a long rod with a pair of stars within a ring at the top of it. In this state, his Ki Energy is transferred into his magical power, strengthening it substantially and lowering the cost of how much magical power is needed to cast all of his spells.

Also, while in Chronos Mode, Fetch's special ability is at work: called **Time Booster**. To put it simply, for every 15 seconds that passes, Fetch gets a fair boost in any one of his stats randomly. After 15 seconds passes, the next stat is boosted and the previous stat returns to normal. This boost is shown by a certain color of the "ring & twin-stars" emblem of his rod. Right now his magic stat is boosted, shown by an orange color.

"Meteor," Fetch called out while pointing his rod just above the center of the arena. From a portal of sorts, Fetch summoned a non-elemental mass of rock to crash down on the iced floor with great impact, causing the ice to be cracked into numerous portions.

At that point, the Stop effect wore off of Waddle, who had resumed commanding the Crystal Storm icicles fall toward Fetch where he currently was. Waddle, now aware of the change in power in Fetch, was perplexed. "What are you wearing?" he openly asked.

The golden retriever scoffed, jumping back to the wall behind him, and not slipping on the ice beneath him. "Sounds like you want a closer look..." he murmured. His Time Booster perk now increased his agility, with the rod's emblem glowing yellow.

Fetch had actually jumped out of range of the falling icicles, but he was actually using one of them in a special way. The closest icicle was the only one that hit the spot where he was previously standing. However, when it hit that spot, the portion of ice that Fetch was standing on suddenly launched him into the air, right towards Waddle.

"How's this?!" Fetch exclaimed while drawing closer to Waddle.

"Oh, no you don't... Flash Freeze!"

Fetch smirked, to bring a confused look upon the penguin's face. Just before the snowflake hit him, Fetch suddenly created a rift in the space in front of him and flew into it... reappearing right above Waddle and striking him down with the rod. After hitting him downward, Fetch casted Immobilize on Waddle, by which a dark green aura appeared and acted as a paling around him, stopping any physical movements so much that not even Flash Steps can be performed, for a limited amount of time.

Now on the arena floor, which was absent of some ice now, Waddle had nowhere to go. "Oh darn it...!" he complained, knowing that he lost the match.

"Checkmate," Fetch proclaimed, before his rod's emblem glowed in a dark golden shade, meaning that his special attacks were boosted. Fetch finished Waddle off with a blast he fired from his rod, after spinning it around rapidly above him to generate the Ki Energy stored within his magical power. The blast was a bright yellow beam of strong and concentrated Ki energy, called **Masenko**. An explosion of light was made upon impact of the intended target.

It was in fact over for Waddle, as he was in no condition to continue fighting tonight. Fetch turned the tables and dominated.

"Waddle is unable to fight further! Fetch is the winner!"

The crowd really enjoyed this match, and was surprised about Fetch's Ascended Legendary appearance. It was different than what most of the other Bean Titans would generally appear like.

_(The music fades to nothing.)  
(Spunky wins his bet for a total of $50, safe until the next round.)_

/\/\/\/\/\/\

_MATCH 7: Millennium vs. Britannia._

"Here we are folks, match number seven!" Sweet announced in the center of the Aeroseum's arena. "Both of these Bean Titans are making their tournament debuts right here! On one side, we have **Millennium Turner** (age 21). The image of the Earth that is tattooed on his chest symbolizes this dark magenta bear's powers, which are those that are most related to nature. In other words, his strengths are in four elements: fire, water, earth and air. He can alternate his strengths as he pleases. We're putting those powers to the test against his opponent, on the other side. This is **Britannia Knight** (age 12), from the United Kingdom, symbolized by the country's flag tattooed on her chest. This young brown bear joined the Titans a couple of weeks ago, and ever since, I have been impressed with her abilities. That's right, don't let her glasses fool you. Alone, she is quite agile and a fairly skilled martial artist—well-trained enough to keep up with the likes of Tracker and Fortune. However, her real strength lies in her prowess as a young archer, as you might probably be able to guess by seeing the recurve bow on her back. She is very accurate and can fire many arrows at a time. The quiver on her back seems to have an unlimited supply of arrows. Don't ask me why—I don't know myself! Still though, can her archery best Millennium's earthly powers? We shall see. Titans, THROW-DOWN!"

_(BGM: "Clavar la Espada" — Bleach.)_

The crowd cheered, as Sweet distanced himself from the two Bean Titans.

"All right Brit, let's see what you've... got?" uttered Millennium, who had his attention on Sweet before he noticed that his opponent was already out of his sight. To his dismay, he was hit with a flying kick from behind, sending him a few feet away from Britannia, the attacker.

"It would help to pay attention...!" she told him in a sing-song tone.

Millennium got back to his feet. "Well, I hope you'll like my method of payment!" he replied quickly, before punching the ground to cause a pulse wave to shoot out and expand its way to the walls of the arena. This was his Magnitude attack—the same as Roam's, but considerably weaker.

Britannia remembered that Fortune basically jumped in time to avoid Roam's Magnitude pulses, so she did the same thing here.

**[I^I]**

"This looks familiar, right everyone?" Fancy began.

"Of course it does." Mac replied.

"So, who's betting on this match? The only two that haven't gotten a chance are Fleece and Sweet."

Dotty turned in her seat. "They both already placed their bets, but for separate matches. Fleece put $50 on the line for Britannia to win this one, and Sweet has the same amount placed for the person he thinks will win the next match. He did not tell us who he picked though."

"All or nothing, huh? Hey, more power to you, Fleece." Mystic boasted.

"This whole betting thing is just a Legendary 12 thing, isn't it?" Dep asked, being fairly quiet, along with the four members of Team Z beside him and Gigi.

"You guys can ante up too, if you want..." invited Spunky, grinning.

Gigi kept her attention on the match, Dep and Thunderbolt turned their heads, and Fortress shook her head in rejection.

"We'll pass too." Mina and Tina answered simultaneously.

**[O^O]**

"It helps me that you aren't as good as Roam..." said the young bear, jumping over the pulses like Fortune did on Monday's UNLIMITED Tournament.

Millennium squinted his eyes. "Don't you think I KNOW that?!" he retorted, causing a larger and more powerful Magnitude pulse to shoot out.

Britannia tried to hop over it again, but her legs got caught by the bright golden pulse wave. This caused her to turn a couple of flips in the air and then land a few feet behind where she previously was, on her front side. As she was getting up, she sensed that Millennium was continuing his offense with long range techniques with all four of his elements: Rock Blast, Water Pulse, Flamethrower and an extended Gust. Britannia adapted to all of these situations. First, she rolled out of the way of the incoming rocks. Next, she jumped over the water sphere before it collapsed behind her. Then, she used Flash Step to avoid the stream of fire. Finally, after reappearing from the Flash Step, she let the strong air hit her and knock her backwards; however, she had her bow in her hand, with an arrow in the other, aimed well to the right side of Millennium.

He saw where she was aiming. "Good luck trying to hit me!" he shouted, deciding to stay right where he was.

Britannia smirked and then released her arrow, just before landing on the ground. The arrow zoomed through the powerful wind, but curved to where it was drawing nearly directly at Millennium.

"Huh?!" he exclaimed, barely turning his body in an attempt to avoid the arrow that Britannia fired with such skill. Much to his surprise, the arrow still made contact with him, leaving a cut to his right cheek.

"Don't think I can't hit you under pressure." Britannia claimed, getting back up again.

Millennium winced. "There's no way you're that good at shooting like that!"

The young bear rolled her eyes and flipped her raven-colored hair, discarding the doubt that her opponent had towards her. "Well I am. Still, I'm not at my best right now."

"Really? Well that's more of a challenge than just fighting with leisure... so why aren't you fighting at your best right now?"

Britannia looked back with a serious face. "Because you would lose if I was."

Millennium chuckled, while beginning to gradually raise his power up to Legendary status. "Care to explain, while I'm getting to a good enough power level to beat you with?"

The brown bear also powered up. "Fine then. I'll make it simple. As Sweet already mentioned, my best skills are in archery. To put more into that, there are three stages of my power, where on every level, my attacks, accuracy and skills are improved. Right now, you're looking at normal Britannia, in **Archer Mode**—who uses only close combat and normal arrows to attack. The second stage only comes up on my Legendary power, which should be about... now." Calling it right on time, Britannia's quiver (and the arrows it held) disappeared and her body was lined with the golden Legendary aura. "This is my **Ranger Mode**, which is the same as my Legendary strength. In this state, I don't need a quiver for arrows because now I don't have to pull them out, since the arrows are made only from my elemental energy. I can also fire at a much faster rate than just one arrow at a time. That's all you'll get out of me for now. Again, if I have to resort to using my third stage of power—at my best, you won't last... I promise you."

Millennium stayed silent for a couple of seconds, before nodding his head negatively. "Like I said before, I like the challenge of fighting someone at their best, because I won't have to hold back... but since you're being cocky with me, I'll have to go all-out on you anyways. That way, you'll have to fight me at your best!"

She sighed. "You're confusing cockiness with confidence. I'm trying to do you a favor here..."

"Ha! I won't need that. Now, let's just fight already!"

Unmoved by his remarks, Britannia remained silent and then readied her bow, pulling the string back.

_"What? She's drawing with nothing in her hands? Wait, she said—" _Millennium pondered.

Before he had time to complete his thought, Britannia performed a Flash Step while she was aiming. When she reappeared, an arrow made completely of fire was visible inside her bow. She released it immediately, hitting her opponent to cause a small explosion on impact, knocking him several feet backwards.

"If you haven't been taking me seriously, then now would be the time to change that." Britannia advised him, raising her bow towards him from where she stood.

The dark magenta bear got back up and distanced himself. "Fine then. You got it!" he exclaimed, powering up and summoning a large amount of water around him. He then began to move the water effortlessly until it took him to the top of a large wave, allowing him to ride it and travel towards Britannia. "Surf's up!" he shouted, aiming to crash down upon her.

Britannia remained silent while aiming her bow downward as the wave came towards her. She channeled her wind energy to compose an air arrow and then launched it at the ground at the right moment. The force of the arrow was strong enough to launch her high into the air, and allowed her to pass right over the incoming wave.

_"What the..?!"_ Millennium thought, watching her flip over his wall of water.

In his shock, he was unaware that she was aiming again while in the air. Britannia then fired an electric arrow at the water, conducting it and damaging Millennium in the process, since he was riding the wave. He soon fell to the ground after the water calmed and started to disappear quickly.

"Had enough already?" Britannia asked, landing on the ground several yards away from her opponent.

"I... I'm just gettin' started." Millennium responded, struggling to get up because he was slightly stunned from the electricity.

"It doesn't matter which of those four elements you throw at me," she began to talk, while aiming at him with the bow. "Not only will I get around it, but I can counter your attacks with their weaknesses. My elemental energy is of all ten elements, so like I said... while in Ranger Mode, my arrows will be empowered by whichever element I choose. If this is your best, then it doesn't look like you really want to see MY best. I'll end it here then." Once she finished talking, another flame arrow was being generated into her bow, but with much more fire than last time.

_(The music halts.)_

Millennium gritted his teeth in a spot of anger. _"I SAID..."_

Britannia fired her flame arrow, which left a trail of fire as it passed over the ground. She saw it get within inches of the other bear before it burst out into flames. At that sight, she was about to assume victory, but then she widened her eyes when she sensed that Millennium's power had returned to full Legendary power and that the fire was still visible, but in a certain shape...

_"This fight just got interesting..."_ Sweet murmured, while watching as the referee. The fire that both he and Britannia saw was raving in the shape of a large sword. Millennium was not holding this sword; it levitated right in front of him.

_(BGM change: "Attack on the Beat" — Bleach.)_

"I said—I'm just getting started..." he claimed, while the flaming sword would circle around rapidly and then split into four identical swords, which all then slowed to continue levitating around him. "Terrestrial Blades, stage two complete."

Britannia looked on at him, trying to figure out what to do now. She also saw that the number zero glowed above Millennium's head. "What...?" she murmured in surprise.

"I'm through playing around now," proclaimed the male bear. "If you won't show me your best, then I'll just force it out of you. These Terrestrial Blades are made from elemental power, but bound together by my own spirit energy. If these Blades reach stage five and this number on my head turns to one thousand, I'm gonna win with one attack you can't block, no matter how fast you fire those arrows. This was your last warning."

Britannia sneered, getting a little upset. "I already gave you my warning. You can't just dictate me to just go all-out on you. Again, I'm doing YOU a favor!"

"Well I don't need it!" Millennium retorted, sending three of his four flame blades flying towards her.

She remained silent, while taking defensive and evasive action on the incoming Terrestrial Blades. She fired two powerful Earth Arrows at two of them to counter, and performed a Flash Step dodge the third one. Once she was in a safe spot, Britannia charged a more powerful Earth Arrow and then fired it at Millennium.

The dark magenta bear stayed right where he was and had the remaining flaming Terrestrial Blade act as a shield, levitating in front of him where the attack was coming from. The number on his head had changed to 300, which indicated that something changed. What happened was that the flaming sword in front of him changed into a rocky blade, and then absorbed the incoming Earth Arrow.

"What the?!" Britannia outbursted, before getting blindsided by the two flaming blades she thought she had gotten rid of.

After attacking, the both of them, along with the remaining loose flaming blade, returned to Millennium and floated around with the fourth, rocky blade. "Terrestrial Blades, stage four," he announced.

"What? What happened to stage three?!" she exclaimed.

"That was before the two swords attacked you. Check the number now."

Britannia looked at the number above his head, which read "650" now. _"Darn it..."_

"You're in deep trouble. I already warned you," he started to say, while two of the three flaming blades shifted elements—one turned into water, and the other manifested into visible gray gales of wind. "Now that all four of my elements are in effect now, it doesn't matter what your method of attack is... these blades will protect me. All I have to do is wait, until you boost this number to one thousand, then it will be over for you."

She remained silent and still, looking away from him.

**[I^I]**

Aurora took a second to look at Britannia. "Fleece, you might just lose your open bet; Britannia looks like she's about to give up."

The lamb did not reply to his comment.

"Hmm..." Mac uttered.

"What is it this time, Mac?" asked Mystic, shifting her eyes over to the cardinal.

"I want to believe what Millennium is saying, that Britannia can't penetrate his defense from the Terrestrial Blades... but I still want to consider the fact that Britannia is purposely showing restraint," he began, beginning to look around at the status boards that Dotty was looking at from her seat. "If she has that third level of skill, then it is obvious that she has an Ascended Legendary form. The question is: Is she thinking about resorting to that right now? She can't do much in her Archer or Ranger Modes, so perhaps this last form of hers will turn things around."

Dotty turned in her seat slightly, in reply to Mac's words. "She had better think carefully. Britannia has fairly low stamina and defense to begin with, meaning she only take on fewer than the typical amount of attacks before she is in danger. However, when she reached her Legendary strength, her special attack and speed stats increased greatly. I would think the same increase in those two stats would happen if she stops holding back. So you're right Mac. Will she do it?"

Floppity shrugged. "All I know is that I'm feeling the same amount of suspense from this match as the crowd is right now."

Mac smirked towards Canyon. "So is Canyon, hehe."

_"It's because you made me have to shut my mouth for the rest of the tournament..."_ the cougar replied internally, crossing his arms.

The majority in the press box would agree with Floppity on her statement. What was going to happen next?

**[O^O]**

Without saying a word, Britannia looked back at Millennium, before tossing her bow away.

_(BGM change: "On the Precipice of Defeat" — Bleach.)_

He was confused at this. "Why did you throw that away? Don't you need that?" he asked.

"Since it sounded like you gave me a final warning, I suppose I should give you mine then. It's only fair. And to answer your question, that will take a bit more of explaining, in more ways than one..." she paused, before exhibiting a white aura, making Millennium react in surprise because her power was increasing.

She also showed the piece of jewelry on her right wrist—it was a chain wristband that appeared to have something looking like a little skinny star hanging from it, with a ring running through the middles of each of the five points.

"What is that?" questioned Millennium, looking at the wristband.

"It's the reason why I don't need that bow over there," she replied, just before her original bow disappeared like her quiver and regular arrows did earlier. Nearly her entire body had also been shrouded in white light; her head and the wrist she was raising up were still visible to Millennium. "This is a Quincy Cross, the font of the power that you so desired to see of me. It's actually a pentacle star, but let's just call it a cross, just for kicks. Now, don't bother thinking about trying to break it—it's impossible."

He narrowed his eyes, trying to hide his hidden shock. _"What?!_"

Britannia then positioned her raised arm to her side, discarding the light that covered her and revealed her new form. She was sporting white garments with blue lined accents, to what seemed like a priestess would wear. It was a form-fitting white dress, coming with a light tunic fitting around her upper chest and back, and also two strips of clothing decorated with 3 blue crosses—layering over the front and back sides of her dress from her waist and lower back respectively. In her hand, that was raised before, was a large, bright blue insignia that was more than three-quarters the size of her body. Its appearance was a cross mixed with a "web" of sorts, much like her pentacle that she presented before.

"This is my Ascended Legendary form, and also my final archery stage: **Quincy Mode**. You're about to get your wish for seeing me at my best... and you'll be regretting it very soon."

Millennium's number increased to 850, getting ready to combat her. "Well then, before I make my move, let me ask what you are holding?" he asked, eyeing the bright object she was holding.

"Quincys do not use ordinary bows like the one you saw before. This is actually my Quincy Cross, in bow form. It's made from any remnant of spirit energy around me..." she paused, as she used her other hand to draw an arrow that was made from the same energy that the Quincy Cross was made out of, "and so are the arrows. Now, before I fire, I want to be sure of this: are you ready?"

"Of course! This is what I've been waiting for!"

Britannia grinned. "All right then. Don't say I didn't warn you—you asked for this."

_(The previous music fades to nothing by the time Britannia speaks her latest word.)  
(BGM change: "Quincy's Craft" — Bleach.)_

After speaking, she finally fired what she was drawing. However, it was not just one arrow of spirit energy that she fired. She actually fired fifty of them, in quick succession.

_"Whoa!"_ Millennium uttered to himself, quickly shifting all of his blades to the earth element and blocking the incoming arrows. He then got hit with about ten arrows from the sides of him that were not protected. He tried to look around for Britannia because he assumed she was another place on the field. It was time wasted, because one of his earth swords completely collapsed from a hit that it took, but it was from a special kind of object. He found a thin silver bar with spirit energy appearing as a blade lodged in the arena floor. It was assumed that that was what got rid of one of his Terrestrial Blades, and dropped his head number to 750. After a second passed, Britannia appeared to grab the silver bar nearby her opponent. She did not have the Quincy Cross bow in her hand.

"Oh no you don't!" he exclaimed, refusing to let her get it back. He commanded the other three earth blades to attack her.

Britannia quickly yanked the bar out of the ground and countered the three blades with it, meeting them with the short, spirit energy powered blade. She grunted, feeling the force behind the Terrestrial Blades.

"Give up! That little sword can't beat three big ol' rock swords!" he claimed, ready to taste victory already.

Britannia remained silent, watching the clash of blades. In about two seconds, the rest of the Terrestrial Blades collapsed just like the other one, with the rocks falling to the ground without a master. She held herself exactly as she was. "You were saying?" she replied, looking right back at Millennium, who immediately distanced himself from her.

Millennium used his distance to also draw back and reform his four Terrestrial Blades to him from afar, with each element visible. His number would gradually increase towards 1,000 as well. "But how?! You can't be generating that much spirit energy and not be running out. And what is that sword of yours? It's thin, but powerful." he inquired to know.

"Well then..." Britannia began to say, "allow me to explain. Quincys are not ordinary archers. As one of them, I can use any and all spirit energy around me to my advantage... and if you must know, spirit energy is **everywhere**. If you ask me, spirit energy is the best kind of energy. It ignores elemental resistances, and is only counteracted by normal or spiritual defenses. As I said before, spirit energy creates my Quincy Cross as you saw it a few moments ago, and every last arrow that I fire from it. It also applies to this." She holds up the silver rod with the light blue spirit energy coursing through it, appearing as a thin blade. "This is a Seele Schneider—it's German for "soul cutter". I must correct you on one thing: this is NOT a sword. It is merely a tool I can use to loosen or absorb any spirit energy bonds. When you told me that your Terrestrial Blades were held together by your own spirit energy, it was then that I knew that this was the best way to counter them. Although I have five of these, one Seele Schneider was already more than enough to handle this."

**[I^I]**

"Wow, there's a lot of power packed in that thing," Fortress sensed, looking at the Seele Schneider with shock.

"True, but I still can't get over one thing that kinda bugs me..." spoke Thunderbolt.

"What's that?"

"A lot of time is spent on this match because they're talking a lot," he answered.

Dotty turned in her seat. "Well, it is actually a good thing that they are explaining so much about their abilities," she began to explain. "It gives us all a chance to know their strengths and their capabilities with them. We could also create special tests for each individual Bean Titan later, if they want to push their limits with their own special skills. That way, they—and possibly others—can realize their limitations if they have them."

"That really does make sense, mom. We oughta do some of that back home." Dep replied.

Dotty smiled after being called "mom", and then turned back to her controls.

**[O^O]**

"NO!" Millennium shouted. "I won't lose to you—no way! You're outta luck now... my number is 1,000, which means that I can unleash my most powerful attack on you with my Terrestrial Blades!" Once he said that, the four large elemental swords span around and combined together into one larger blade. He took hold of it and aimed it at Britannia. "I don't care how much spirit energy is in that weapon of yours. This bad boy is full of spirit energy, limiting my elements to a small quantity, but still bounding them all together. I doubt that that little blade will be beating this attack of mine! Tetra Beam Cannon!"

The large blade began to charge a thin, yet powerful beam at its tip. It would take quite a while to charge up, which explains why his opponent is not showing very much need to defend.

Britannia sighed. "You still don't get it. I've said it all before, and you still don't listen. Now I must tell you: you've lost. Because you use spirit energy, as a Quincy, I can make almost total use of that by going as far as stealing it from you. Almost anything a Quincy attacks with can require spirit energy of any of my surroundings, whether or not it belongs to me. My Quincy Cross and the Seele Schneiders by themselves are able to do the same. Allow me to tell you this: the energy running through the Seele Schneider I'm holding is oscillating millions of times per second, and as I said before, it merely loosens spirit bonds... so I can use them to my advantage." After she said that, some of the spirit energy from the large Terrestrial Blade was leaving it and being drawn in by the Seele Schneider.

The dark magenta bear gasped, and then gritted his teeth in frustration. "No! I won't let this happen!" he yelled out, commanding his beam to fire from the blade with whatever power he had left. It took a few seconds to respond to his command.

"One last thing I must correct you on again, but in a way that it'll finally get into your head. Seele Schneider is not necessarily a sword..." she added, re-creating her Quincy Cross again, but using the Seele Schneider itself as the ammunition. "It's just another arrow."

_(The music halts.)_

After those words, the Tetra Beam Cannon fired from the mixed Terrestrial Blade, but at a lower power scale because some of its energy was stolen from the Seele Schneider. Britannia fired the spirit weapon directly at the head of the beam, and she watched... as it negated any and all force coming from the beam, until it made its way to Millennium. Once there, the Seele Schneider impaled him slightly, but inflicted drastic damage throughout his body and almost instant paralysis. The spirit energy of the weapon quickly faded out to nothing and then fell to the ground, just before Millennium collapsed on the arena floor.

_"Gah... damn it..."_ he thought, on the edge of unconsciousness.

Sweet came in to call the match. "Millennium is unable to continue! The win goes to Britannia!" he spoke out.

The crowd was shocked at how much Britannia was right about. It wasn't the most enjoyable match because of the excessive speech, but just knowing what the Titans can do in combat amazes them well enough.

_(Fleece keeps her $50 bet until the next round.)_

/\/\/\/\/\/\

_MATCH 8: Spurs vs. Rufus._

"All right folks!" Sweet announced. "I'd like to take the time now to mention that we, the Bean Titans, will have overviews our base statistics and abilities posted online over the next few days. This is for those of you that like to be competitive and would like to treat this as one of your sporting entertainment events. When the full roster of the Bean Titans is posted, you will be able to even place bets on who you think will win certain contests, including those in the UNLIMITED Tournaments. Believe me when I say that this can and will make your experiences that much more enjoyable!"

He paused to listen to the cheering fans of Titans Unlimited Entertainment. They were all for that idea, and could not wait to see it happen.

"Thank you all! All right, on with the tournament, with our last match of round one! Let's bring out our two fighters!"

The first Bean Titan came out, and immediately, the crowd started chanting his name. It is a part of his gimmick, no matter if he wins or loses.

"Well, you all know him very well already, ha ha! Still, I must introduce him. This is **Rufus Langston** (age 20)! This tan & brown dog won the Battle Royale this past Monday and earned his spot in this UNLIMITED Tournament tonight. His elements are light and thunder, but he predominantly uses his light abilities. Good luck to you sir. Now, on to his opponent—come on out, sport!"

Rufus's opponent walked into the arena from the backstage area, looking around at the enormous amount of people watching him. He took his position on the other side of Sweet with determined look on his face, after looking around at the crowd.

"All right folks! You're looking at our newest member of the Bean Titans; this stallion joined us just yesterday, and I tell you—I feel like he has the gusto of a champion, just like everyone else competing tonight! Meet 18-year-old **Spurs McKee**, coming all the way from Scotland! No one has seen his skills in battle yet, so this should be a treat. If I recall right, he actually told us what he wanted as a reward, if he were to win the whole thing tonight. He wants to join Team Z and reunite with what is left of his family."

A Watcher camera zooms up to the press box and focuses on Tina.

Sweet continued speaking. "Tina is one of his two cousins that are here with us in the Aeroseum. The other is Durango, who is at Team Z's island home right now with his son, Derby, and Dep & Fortress's daughter, Danielle. Their mother—Spur's aunt, was a part of Titans X in the past... but she, along with a majority of the group, were killed by the Acolytes. Tina and Durango are all he has left now. So I would imagine that he will stop at nothing to meet his aspirations now, even if that means fighting through four Bean Titans to get them. That's the spirit, Spurs!"

The Watcher camera floats back to focus on the action in the arena.

"Are you ready?" Sweet asked the stallion.

Spurs nodded affirmatively.

"Rufus, how about you?"

"Let's do this!" the dog replied, jumping left to right to get pumped up.

"All right then. Titans, THROW-DOWN!" Sweet announced, quickly jumping back to assume his referee role.

"All right, Spurs. Let's see what you got... how fast can you dodge or block me?" Rufus exclaimed, as he rushed in and began to throw his fists and legs at the stallion, at a fairly normal speed.

Spurs remained silent and began to dodge a lot of his attacks, and blocked some of the others. He continued this awareness, as Rufus would accelerate his attacking speed.

**[I^I]**

Kuku noticed that there was a "$50" written next to Spurs's name on the status boards. She pointed at it. "What does that mean, Dotty?" she asked.

"It means someone has a bet on Spurs to win this match..." Dotty replied, shifting her eyes over to the cockatoo. "I'm surprised no one noticed earlier; I made note of that for everyone that had a bet on them."

"Ah I see. So, that means Sweet is challenging Spurs to win."

"Yeah," Fleece came into the conversation, "but I doubt he cares too much about the money. I think he just wants to see how he performs—just like all of the other Bean Titans."

Mac overheard their words and then looked back at Spurs. He could not shake the feeling that the young stallion had an immense power within him, and that it would shock everyone if it were to take precedence. He also noticed that Gigi was silent as well, and that was when he realized how much of an example she is showing amongst everyone in the Titans League. Even knowing that Spurs shows promise, she remains almost unchanged in composure.

"I could agree with that," Dotty responded to Fleece, while turning her attention to the statistics again. "Just like L'Amore a few days ago, I'm doing a first-hand record of Spurs's combat information. Right now, he's doing a very good job of matching Rufus's power level, which is operating under the Sacred (2nd strongest) caliber at this moment. I do not know what the extent of his potential power is yet, but that will come soon enough. On another note, it appears that Spurs has light as his element. So the question remains: how strong is he?"

**[O^O]**

Rufus used a Flash Step to separate himself from Spurs, ending the close combat session. "Wow, man!" he exclaimed. "For your first time fighting here, I gotta give you some credit—it's not easy to keep yourself aware while being attacked that fast."

"Thanks, lad. I trained really, really hard on my own time before joining. I'm just wanting to take it easy for right now." replied the stallion.

Rufus took a second to look at Sweet. "Oh really now? Well, I think I should mention this: Sweet, over there, wants us to give it our best shot tonight, and try to strive towards ultimate victory. To be honest, I want to get as close to the final match as I can, no matter who I'm facing if and when I get there. So giving it my all means I'd have to start by fighting you on my full-on Legendary Power. I think you should do the same too."

Spurs was astonished, with a curious look on his face. "Legendary Power?" he questioned.

"Yeah! Since you're new, I'll give you a crash course on it."

Rufus walked toward the center of the arena and stood on the left side of it. Spurs stayed where he was for moment, before proceeding to come closer to the center as well.

"Okay," the dog began to explain, "Legendary Power—It's the most common and top-notch level of overall strength that all of the Bean Titans have. Since you first set foot into the Danger Room—or rather, this arena... as an official Bean Titan, you're automatically given the right to use your Legendary Power whenever you want. The thing is just knowing how to power up to it, and then how to control the power. Because we already fought hand-to-hand and you don't have more than two scratches on you, I know that you shouldn't have any problems with control whatsoever."

"Okay cool," responded Spurs, taking this all in.

"Now to demonstrate, I'll show you how to power up. It's simple really. Just tap into your will to fight and channel whatever strength you have inside you and let it show on the outside. It helps to clench the muscles in your arms a bit and bring them in towards your body. Like this."

Rufus performed this action, as the golden Legendary aura started to appear around his body, extending about seven inches away from his skin. Spurs was a little surprised at this power growth, but did not show any fear at all. He then imitated his action exactly as he explained, concentrating on his inner reserves and will to fight and then let it burst out some. Spurs had no problems attaining his Legendary Power, and could control it fairly good as well. He matched what Rufus was exhibiting.

"This feels a little better, really. Thanks, Rufus!" Spurs said, feeling what Legendary Power is like.

"Anytime. I see you're a quick learner, ha ha. Well, see as though we're opponents right now, I think showing off our full powers would be better... just to make this test a bit more fun. What do you say?"

The stallion looked directly at Rufus. "Sounds alright with me."

"Good. I'll show you the full power tidbit, then we'll get down to business. To get your full power Legendary strength working, you curl in your body a little bit and put your arms in that place again, but keep them there while you give out a good, long yell... and make it intense! Intensity is everything, because when you're at full power, playtime is over! Got it?"

"I got it," Spurs murmured, feeling confident enough to witness not only his opponent's full power, but his own as well.

"All righty then. Here I go..." Rufus got into the position he just described and began to hold out a long battle cry. Force waves started to be felt inside the arena by Sweet and Spurs while Rufus was powering up. After about ten seconds, he stopped shouting out and stopped his power level at its cap, which was shown by the golden Legendary aura nearly doubling in size and becoming edgier on its reaches.

**[I^I]**

"What does Master Libra say about Rufus's power level?" Spunky asked his wife.

"I'm reading 9,280," Dotty replied. "It's pretty impressive if you ask me. The Aeroseum Arena is designed to be better than any of the Danger Rooms we have at all 13 bases around the world, thus giving a nice boost of power to anyone fighting in it. Before he came in here, Rufus's power usually peaked at about 8,200."

"Wow, that is pretty good! So now, we wait for Spurs." Hippity said.

Mac nodded his head and sighed. Floppity noticed this. "What's wrong, Mac?"

"I'm just... expecting something." he answered her.

"Hmm, okay then."

**[O^O]**

"This is my full power, Spurs," Rufus told him. "If you can't at least come close to it, then you're out of luck. Now you give it a try."

"Okay, lad. I just wanna say again, I trained A LOT... because I know that Team Z is strong, and I gotta be up there with them."

"I know it, man. The Bean Titans in Team Z are some of our strongest—they wiped out the last of the Acolytes. There aren't too many fighters at all that can match their power, and it takes a LOT of hard work in training. Well, I guess here's where you start, Spurs. Show us that full power of yours!"

The stallion closed his eyes momentarily to keep his will to fight strong for what he was about to do now. "All right then," he finally spoke when he opened his light brown eyes. When he began to gradually build to a yelling sound, the force waves were already beginning to pulse through the arena.

_"What?"_ thought a startled Sweet. _"This power I'm sensing within Spurs... it's huge! I'd better try and keep my ground for this one; Rufus had best do the same for himself."_

_(BGM: "Vegeta's Theme" — Dragonball Z.)_

Once Spurs let out his roaring yell, the arena made a sudden quake and the force waves got more intense and rapid. His power stormed throughout the place. The crowd watched in awe.

**[I^I]**

"What the hell?!" Canyon outbursted, shocked at Spurs's sudden power release. He immediately covered his mouth, before looking at Mac.

The cardinal noticed his action. "It's okay. You can keep talking, Canyon."

The cougar removed his hands from his mouth. "Thanks... but I repeat: WHAT THE HELL?! That power!"

"Incredible..." Thunderbolt murmured, amazed along with the other four Team Z members in the press box.

"10...11... 12...!?" Dotty exclaimed, looking at the Master Libra program that identified power levels. She has never seen a number appear on it like this one. "Everyone, Spurs is breaking 13,000 BEANs! And it's still rising some!"

That news just blew the minds of just about everyone in the press box. Gigi was also surprised, but she still remained silent to those around her. _"Rufus stands no chance against him,"_ she proclaimed to herself.

**[O^O]**

Spurs capped his power off. "Well then... how's this?" he asked.

"Hah... uh... ah..." uttered Rufus. With his mouth agape, those were the only sounds to escape from it. He was in fear of the power he was facing, taking a step backwards.

"I was actually watching backstage, and took the chance to take after some of the moves you all were doing. I know how to do some of them already, thanks to my cousin." Spurs called out.

"Oh, ah.. really? Like what?" Rufus asked.

"I'll show three of the moves I know. The first is something you did earlier, I think..." he replied, but appeared standing right next to Rufus, who still had his attention on Spurs's previous position. "Isn't this called Flash Step?"

Rufus noticed his new position about a second later. _"He's fast... ridiculously fast..."_ he thought, distancing himself again. "Yeah, it is. Well, I promised that we'd fight after showing our full powers. So, here goes nothing! Hah!"

Rufus jumped into the air and then began to fire many small light blasts at Spurs, who proceeded to deflect them all. Realizing that he was running out of options, Rufus decided to power up to his absolute best and fire his most powerful dual-element blast, Photon Blitz—a big beam filled with light and electrical energy. Touching the beam would send a static through the target's body and stun their movements multiple times.

"My second move, Psionic Blast!" Spurs said, pointing a finger towards the incoming blast and then firing a bright yellow beam with the dramatic power of a Cero. It wiped out Rufus's blast completely and still zoomed its way to him.

The head of the blast barely swiped Rufus while he was trying to dodge it, but he still was inflicted a good amount of damage to the front side of his body. He was falling towards the arena floor. _"Wow, well... that could've been worse."_ he thought.

"And third!" Spurs shouted, zooming in the air from above the dog, holding a spiraling light blue orb of energy in his hand. It was a Rasengan. He plunged it at Rufus and got all of the attack, forcing his body to spiral down hard to the ground, where he would let go of all of his power and fall unconscious.

Sweet waited until Spurs let his power rest out before coming in to check on Rufus. He was not getting up. "Rufus is unable to battle! Spurs advances to the quarter-finals!" he announced. He then turned to Spurs. "Well done, sir. You may go backstage now."

The crowd applauded Spurs, knowing that it was his first time battling. He graciously took in the cheers as he was proceeding to leave the arena.

While Fleece and Mac were taking Rufus backstage, Sweet contacted Dotty through his earpiece. "Okay, Dotty. I'm sure you and everyone else knows this already. Spurs has incredible power. So what does your info say on him?"

"13,500 BEANs was his peak—the highest definite number I've ever recorded from Master Libra. His special attacks and agility are the highest of his stats and are set very high; the rest seem fairly balanced out. He's more aware of physical attacks than ranged attacks, but he still managed to knock off a lot of Rufus's blasts no problem, so his countering ability from ranged attacks isn't that far off. It seems like he's going to possess Team Z's arsenal of abilities, so that's to no surprise. His special defense is strange..." she reported.

"Hmm? Why's that?"

"There are two ranges on it. The first one is the normal range of his special defense, which is about the same as most other Bean Titans... but the second range is "transparent" and it rises above the stat levels that his special attacks and agility go to. It must mean that there is a special ability that he knows that explains why his second range is capable of being detected at that extent. All I know is, only time can tell. We're in for an interesting ride with this one, Sweet."

"Yep... I understand that. Over and out." Sweet replied after a breath of relief, as he turned his attention to the audience. "Well folks, that's the end of round one! We'll be back with the quarter-finals in about 10 minutes. Feel free to do whatever you like, and keep enjoying what we have for you here! Thank you!"

After speaking, he made his way to the backstage area.

**/-/**

**Because the quarter-finals round will be fragmented, this next chapter will be split into two parts as well. I came up with one whole-portion title name to fit the second phase of the UNLIMITED Tournament before (i.e. Chapter 6, "Making the Statement"), but there will indeed be a split for what I have planned.  
**

**If you can dig that, then on with the show!**


	17. Salutary Measures, Part 1

**AN: Remember when I said I did not want to break the 100,000 words mark? Well, with the posting of this chapter, that will be inevitable. This, again, is my longest story to date, and I didn't expect this. Still though, the show must go on!**

**References used [previously]: Teen Titans, Justice League Unlimited, Final Fantasy (VII: Crisis Core, X, XII, & Tactics Advance), Marvel/X-Men, Pokémon, Kids Next Door, Dragonball Z, Capcom, Naruto, WWE, TNA Impact, Family Guy, Bleach, Code Geass, Sonic Adventure 2, Xiaolin Showdown, Bakugan Battle Brawlers, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, One Piece, Star Wars, Mortal Kombat, and Yu Yu Hakusho.****  
****In this chapter:** _nothing new._

Chapter 17 — Salutary Measures, Part I

The quarter-finals of the second UNLIMITED Tournament were about to begin in a few moments. Seven Bean Titans have qualified from the first round; however, seven, of course, is an uneven number to work with. This is because Scorch and Bronto fought to the point where neither of them could continue, leaving L'Amore with no challenger for the quarter-finals.

While the Legendary 12 were deliberating about what virtual environments they should use for the participants, the thousands in attendance around the Aeroseum began to chant "TUE" again, already ready for some more action. While the chanting was heard, the first two combatants walked into the arena, signaling the audience to cheer louder.

* * *

_Meanwhile, backstage..._

"Look guys!" called out Cheeks, who was looking at a screen showing something other than what was going on in the arena. "There's a list of bets here by the Legendary 12! Looks like they're betting on the matches to see who gets the big money!"

Everyone in the Legendary 12 (except for Mac, Kuku, Aurora, Mystic and Canyon) have fifty dollar bets placed on the seven remaining Bean Titans in the tournament.

"Bets, you say?" questioned Crunch, as more and more of the Bean Titans would gather in. "I say we join in on that instead of just standing here and watching them fight!"

Most of the other Titans would agree.

"Isn't that a bit much?" Pouch wondered with concern.

The shark had a jolly smile. "Nope! Trust me, I've worked with chance before at Las Vegas... so we can do the same here. I'll even set the odds on who's gonna win the matches and maybe even increase the earnings based on those odds."

"Oh really? And just how are you going to do that?" replied the kangaroo, with her arms crossed.

"Watch me..." the shark said, getting in the center of the group and calling everyone to attention. "All right everyone, listen up! Starting now, we're going to start placing our bets now and not waiting until the next TUE to do it! Here's how this is gonna go—"

As Crunch was about to begin explaining his wagering system, Cheeks bumped Congo's shoulder, before directing his attention to L'Amore. She was sitting down by herself on a bench far away from everyone else, paying no attention to anyone because she was still trying to calm down from her match against Jabber. When Mac escorted her backstage, she put her in the care of Hippie, as it was what Sweet requested. Sadly, Hippie's efforts could not recompose her nerves enough. She was able to talk and move normally now, but the fear of the fire remained present in her mind, which prevented her from leaving her seat.

"Gigi's gonna kill you if you don't do this right, bro..." Cheeks whispered to Congo.

The young gorilla took in a breath to ready himself. "This is my first big promise, Cheeks..." he whispered back. "Gigi put her trust in me, so I'll do whatever it takes to make sure I stay in good terms with her."

"What about trying to get with L'Amore?"

"This isn't about what I want. I'm trying to help her with her fear, and if that means sacrificing what ever I might feel for her, then so be it. That's the least I can try to do... so here I go."

Cheeks tugged his brother's shoulder before he left and looked him in his eyes for a couple of seconds. It was his nonverbal way of saying "good luck", and Congo understood. He let him go afterwards. As Congo moved over towards L'Amore, he saw that she was looking up at the monitor in front of her. He thought that she was trying to figure out which of the two Bean Titans she would be facing in the next round.

"Hey," Congo greeted, before stopping to stand beside the white poodle, "are you okay?"

She looked up and nodded affirmatively, but nervously at the same time.

"Okay cool. Um, I was watching your match earlier, and I thought you did great. I just wanted to be sure if you were ready for your next fight." the gorilla continued his approach.

L'Amore was remaining silent; however, she did understand what he was saying and was somewhat appreciative of his kind gestures. To Congo, it was hard to truly detect how she was feeling. At the same time, he had to guard his emotions because of what he told his brother and what he promised to Gigi. He was in thought, trying to figure out what to do. He could not think of much else to say, and he could not just force her to do what he would like to do. It seemed to him that the next best option was to just give her a little space to ease herself some more. Unfortunately, he considered that option.

"Well, I just hope you're all right, L'Amore. If you need anything, I'll be here..." Congo told her, turning before taking a few steps away from her.

Suddenly, the poodle snapped out of her silence. "Wait!" she exclaimed loud enough so that the young gorilla could hear her. As he turned to her, she was taking in slower, more steady breaths of air. L'Amore was trying to keep herself as calm as she possibly could. "I feel that... I should tell someone about what is troubling me. If I do not, then I fear that I will keep having... how you say, the jitters." She then patted the space on the bench next to her, telling Congo to sit there.

Congo followed her request. "Okay then, I'm here for you. What's going on?" he asked her.

"How can I say this? Jabber... he is one of those people that I do not feel safe around."

"Well, that's only because you had to fight him in the first round. The tournament itself is a test and an honor given to those in it, so like Rufus said, we have to give it our best and go all-out."

"I understand that, but... maybe "safe" is the wrong word to use," she began to say, gripping the end of her light pink skirt. She was suppressing her nerves. "I am uncomfortable around him, and Tracker too. I should really be keeping this a secret, but you should know this. I am... afraid of fire. It weakens me. I do not think I have the courage to continue fighting in the tournament if it means that that danger will be present."

Congo took a second to think about what she said before he spoke. The things that she said hit him in his spirit, as if he could sympathize with her. The thoughts in his mind began to piece themselves together quickly. He was not even thinking about making the right moves now... he did not have to.

"Okay L'Amore..." he uttered, lightly grabbing one of her wrists. Congo also took off his glasses, something he only does when he is one-hundred percent serious about a course of action he was about to take. He was looking right in her cyan eyes.

"Huh?" the poodle responded, waiting to hear what he was about to say.

"I want to ask that you not think of me in a bad way for what I am about to say. I want to be honest with you and help encourage you... but at the same time, I'm going to be real, and some things may take a while to have an effect on you when I say them. I hope you'll understand."

L'Amore nodded. "Okay..." she said softly.

"First comes the honesty. Being a Bean Titan means that you are willing to live and fight alongside other specially talented people not only for your own benefit, but for the benefit of others and because we are heroes also, we protect all who are innocent beings. We also learn to improve ourselves one way or another. All this training we are doing—the tournament included—develops fighting spirit... and that's what it's all about! For one, all these powers we have took time to get under our control... on the other hand, some of us had to get over fears—some of which were our own concerns, but others threatened to harm everyone else. We live to work through and break any chains that hold us down. With you, L'Amore... (*_sigh*)_ to tell the truth, I already knew about how you felt about fire. Gigi told me everything."

She widened her eyes. "But I... I..."

"It's okay, that's why I'm here. After your cousin told me, I thought about it and decided that I wanted to help you suppress that fear of yours in any way I can. Take it from me, there is almost no way you can keep a fear secret around here. Back when I was a kid, I was afraid of swimming, or at least getting my head underneath the water... and it did not even take a couple of days for my family to realize it. And just that quick, they exposed me to the pool and helped me, one step at a time, before I learned to like it a little and go under the water on my own. My dad, calling the matches out there now, he was proud of me; he loves to see people develop themselves and improve, especially us youthful ones. But I'm getting off topic, so I apologize. L'Amore, somehow, someway... you've got to accept the fact that people notice fears and that they have an effect on you. Jabber knew about it when he fought you, and it is how he managed to hit you. You mentioned Tracker, so I assume he showed something fiery enough to make you distance yourself from him. And believe me, the Legendary 12 certainly know about it now—I can guarantee you. Still, in any given setting, they are all willing to help you cope with being around fire, despite you feeling weak around it. I want to be the first one to help you though. I really wouldn't like to see you give up without giving it your all, even with the fear."

"But why?" she asked. L'Amore was trying to take all this in. She appreciated his willingness and understood what he was talking about, but she doubted that ANYONE could help her face her troubles with fire and flames.

Congo looked down, and gripped her wrist a little harder before releasing it. He then stood up and looked away from her. "Because... I hate quitters. I find it disappointing that people are given a task or are holding themselves responsible for what they have to accomplish, whether it is their dream or a part of their job... but they don't follow through with it or just give up without giving it their absolute best and pushing their limits. When the odds are against you, even if you are at your breaking point, you face them head-on without any fear or doubts! And don't ever... EVER give up! That's what I was taught by my dad, and it is what I believe in. I might not be the strongest person, but with whatever I am capable of doing, I will put my life on the line if that means fulfilling my promises and responsibilities. That's why I want to help you. I'll do whatever it takes."

After Congo said his piece, L'Amore was silent again, but she was thinking about every word he said. It was going to take some time, but she felt the integrity behind his words. Even knowing that she was about to be dealing with her fear of fire, she felt that she could trust him. Still, her nervousness remained within her and made her shaky every now and then.

"Okay," L'Amore replied, standing up on her feet now. "What do I have to do?"

"Just follow me. I promise that everything will be okay." Congo told her. _"And for what I'm planning on doing, I hope I'll be okay too. I'm just going to go through with this—no regrets."_

He led her towards the the back hallway and told her to wait while he was going to retrieve a select group of people from the crowd of Bean Titans backstage. He talked to Cheeks, Jake, Chipper, Roam, Halo, Peace, and Tracker and told them that he wanted to help L'Amore with her pyrophobia. Tracker was the only one who was suspicious of Congo's intentions, and was unwilling to yield to his opinions. The gorilla would not have it, so he trapped the canine in a ball of web and dragged him to where he was taking them all. Eventually, the nine of them had made their way to the elevator that led down to the Megaplex in the Titans Metropolis.

"Let's go," Congo told the group, once the elevator opened to them.

Without words at all, they all entered.

Tracker was still being dragged around in a web case. "Hey, lemme go! Where the hell are we going?" he asked in frustration.

"To the Danger Room, back at home. We're using the warp panel in the Megaplex to take us directly inside the combat chamber there. I'll explain all the details there."

"Why not now? First you tell me to come with you; I say no... then you go and spin me in these webs of yours. I just wanted to watch some good old tournament action for once. If you don't just spill the beans, then I'm gonna—"

Jake covered Tracker's mouth. "It would be wise to just hush and go along with this," the duck told him. "I have a feeling that this is a serious matter, so we would all do well to treat it like one."

The hound dog stopped fidgeting and nodded, understanding what Jake said.

"Thanks, Jake." Congo said.

Cheeks tugged his brother's shoulder and put his head to his ear. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?" he whispered.

"I have a plan. If it doesn't work the way I want it, then it was nice knowing you, bro."

"Dude..." the baboon murmured, now fearing the outcome of what his brother had in mind. He did not know what it was, but he knew that someone was about to get hurt.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Soon enough, the party got to the warp panel in the elevator chamber of the Megaplex and teleported to the Congo's desired location, the Home Base's Danger Room. Once there, the gorilla stepped in front of the group and asked L'Amore to stand by his side. She followed his request, still trusting him in her silence despite her feelings of fear and insecurity.

"All right guys, here's the deal," Congo began. "As you know, L'Amore here fought in the first round already and beat Jabber. She's a great fighter—no question about that... but there is something that stands in her way, or rather, troubles her in a big way. Tracker, I'm sure you know what that trouble is, don't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, man," Tracker replied, shrugging.

"Oh really? Well let me give you a hint: L'Amore told me that she is uncomfortable around you, which means that it is likely that you did something to cause her to feel that way. Perhaps before TUE began tonight?"

Tracker began to think back about what had happened. He remembered his argument with his girlfriend, Tiny, and that he recalled that L'Amore told him that she hated fire. He reacted by uttering "Oh!", when he remembered that he punched the table with a fiery fist, in his rage with Tiny. "That's right," the hound dog said, bringing himself back to current events. "She said that she was afraid of fire, and that she hated it."

The only Bean Titans that knew about this, other than Tracker, were Congo, Cheeks, Halo and Peace. This was news to everyone else, who just thought that Jabber got lucky when he managed to catch L'Amore off guard in her match with him. The white poodle hid behind Congo and buried her face in his back, feeling somewhat embarrassed, but more fearful all the same. She was beginning to shake again.

Congo had to do something now. "Everyone, give me a moment... please." he requested.

Once he said that, the group in front of him looked around amongst themselves and began small talk conversations. Meanwhile, Congo turned his body and put his hands on L'Amore's shoulders, and brought her in so that only she could hear him.

"It's okay," Congo told her. "Yes, you might be exposed to what you don't like, but I swear it on my life that you won't get hurt. No one here is going to hurt you, and you don't have to fight anyone either. I promise. Everything's going to be fine. You just have to trust me, okay?"

The shaking stopped. L'Amore sensed how genuine he was being. Without too much hesitation, she slowly hugged him tight. "You swear it, on your life?" she repeated after hearing him.

"Absolutely."

He returned the hug with a quick embrace and then turned back to the others.

"Is everything okay?" Chipper asked.

"Yeah," Congo responded, before finally getting to the point. "You heard Tracker—L'Amore and fire just don't work out because she is legitimately afraid of it. But if my dad and the rest of the Legendary 12 are putting her on the spot in the UNLIMITED Tournament, even knowing that she has that fear, then there is no way that I am going to let her keep going into it half-ready to face up to the challenge, whether or not the danger of fire is there. I might not be able to totally get rid of her fear, but I sure as hell will do my best to help her cope with it and face it head-on... even if that means my life. I can't do it alone though. I need you guys to help me, if you will."

Cheeks was amazed. He had never heard such a meaningful promise since the one Gigi made to him. He was the first to step forward, as a sign of saying that he will offer whatever his brother asks him of. Soon enough, the other seven Bean Titans did the same.

"So, what do we have to do?" Halo asked, whose voice had a some reverberation to it.

Congo began to pace around. "All right, listen up. We do not have a whole lot of time, since L'Amore is scheduled to face either Nibbly or Princess in the next semifinals. They should still be fighting now. So here's what is going to happen. Chipper and Roam, I need you two to run up to the entertainment level of the Tower. One of you needs to turn the big TV to the live action in TUE; the other, preferably Chipper, needs to track down everything that is recorded from the tournament in the Memory Room. We need to see catch everything up until the end of Britannia versus Spurs, because once that match is done, we need to meet up and high-tail it back to the backstage area. I'm depending on you two to catch the play-by-play and explain it to us on the way back. Is that clear?"

"Yep." Roam replied.  
"Gotcha, captain!" exclaimed Chipper.

With that confirmation, the chipmunk and the buffalo exited the Danger Room.

"The rest of us will be here in the Danger Room," Congo continued. "Cheeks and Jake, you two can go up and take over the controls. Turn on everything necessary for normal testing operations. Also set up a small Spellspring area at the back of the Chamber. All you have to do is watch... and whatever you do, **DO NOT** come inside the Chamber under any circumstances. Got it?"

Jake nodded and teleported himself inside the control center and started setting up the stage exactly as Congo desired.

"All right, bro. I hope you know what you're doing." said Cheeks, giving his brother the "good luck look" again before heading to the Danger Room's elevator.

"I do. Don't worry."

"What about me, man?" Tracker questioned.

"I'm getting to you—just hold on!" Congo exclaimed, getting somewhat tired of Tracker's impatience. He then brought the three girls to the furthest part of the Danger Chamber, where the Spellspring effects were active there as a constant. Spellspring allows the freedom of casting spells without limits. "Halo and Peace, I'm putting you two in charge of both protecting and calming L'Amore. Peace, this is especially good for you because I know how you don't like fighting. But I digress. Tracker and I are going to fight, and I want her to be perfectly safe because I don't want him to hold back. That means I'm gonna have him use anything he knows. So Halo, put up your best barrier on the three of you. And Peace, I'm depending on you to use your special skill to compose L'Amore... you're probably her most important asset in this whole process. The Spellspring effects should help you both out greatly and indefinitely."

"What about you? Fire beats your metal webs too! Aren't you afraid of that?" L'Amore exclaimed.

"You saw Tiny fight Nibbler, didn't you? I'm assuming Tiny's role—the disadvantaged fighter. No magical protection for me. But does that mean I'm going to back down, even if my opponent was Scorch instead? No. If you have to fight someone, then you give it your all... screw weaknesses! Fight it head-on, and never give up! If that means getting burned to a crisp, then so be it. I'm doing this all for your sake, L'Amore."

"Congo..." she murmured. He had shown nothing but the utmost care for her. All she could do was trust him now. There was nothing more to say.

"Go for it." Congo told Halo, signaling her to create a barrier around herself, Peace and L'Amore, protecting them from any danger whatsoever. Once it was there, Congo walked over to Tracker and faced him.

"I think I misheard what you said to them. Did you say you were going to fight me?" asked the hound dog.

"Yep. I don't like it any more than you do." Congo answered, getting into a battle-ready stance.

"It's not that, man... I'm worried for you a little bit. I can't be held responsible for what I might do to you if you don't want me to hold back."

Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, Congo moved to Tracker via Flash Step and delivered a roundhouse kick, sending him in midair and back several feet away. "If that's the case, then you aren't helping me or L'Amore at all. Maybe I should find someone with enough sense to do this... someone who understands the seriousness of this."

Tracker was getting back to his feet. "Congo, you know you don't have better hand-to-hand combat skills than I do. You can't beat me in that field, man!" he acclaimed.

The gorilla growled, instantly assuming his Legendary Power and charged his blue Ki orbs for his Buster Cannon blast. "This isn't about me beating you! You're missing the damn point here!" he shouted, firing his attack.

Tracker tumbled out of the way to avoid the blast, before noticing that Congo was running straight for him with another high kick. He dodged it and immediately countered with a low kick to knock Congo to the ground.

"You see? You can't beat me trying to fight me head-on and—" Tracker started to say, before he felt something wrap around one of his legs. He was then snatched off of the ground and thrown across the Danger Chamber, courtesy of one of Congo's steel web lines.

"Just shut up..." Congo retorted, standing back up again. He took off his glasses too, going over and sliding them inside of Halo's barrier. He turned back to Tracker, who was cutting the web line attached to his leg. "I told you, I don't care about what you're good at and what disadvantage I might have to you. You obviously weren't paying attention to what I was saying, and you don't realize how vital you are to this cause! You haven't been fully cooperative up to this point!"

"Then what the hell do I do?! You haven't exactly told me!" yelled the hound dog.

Congo sighed, trying to calm down a little bit. "Then I apologize. Here's your task: use any and all of your fire moves on me!"

Tracker looked away. "I'm sorry. I can't do that, not that easily."

_(Background music (BGM): "Showdown" — Dead or Alive 5. Tracker's selective theme.)_

Congo became a little frustrated now, assuming his full power. His Legendary aura spewed out in a rage. "Why in the world are you being so obstinate, Tracker? Don't you realize that this fight isn't about someone walking out victorious? You better explain yourself, because I'm getting sick of your low level of helpfulness!"

Tracker shook his head, while he ascended to his Legendary Power as well. "Fine, I'll tell you why. Do you remember what your dad said before my match with Rover last Monday? He wasn't kidding, man. I think it's shameful of me to have to rely on my fire powers to win my fights. As a matter of fact, I only use them as a last resort, when I am either at my wit's end or when I can't beat my opponents just by knocking them everywhere with my combat skills. It's a pride thing for me. Do I appreciate the fact that I can use fire when I please? Of course I do... but it is only a matter of choice when and where I want to use those skills. As helpful to me and as dangerous to others as they might be, I only see them as crutches and shortcuts. My physical prowess is all I need. All of those techniques I know—the Wolf Fang Fist, my Tatsumaki kicks, Shin Shoryuken, and even the Hurricane Sweep I used to counter your kick earlier... it's taken me years to perfect those, much more than the fire powers I was given as a special gift. With that said, I say this to you again: I can't be held responsible for what may happen to you if I am allowed to use those skills."

_(The music fades away.)_

L'Amore sensed that Congo released some of his suddenly stressed power. "I'm scared," she said to Halo and Peace as she was watching from inside the angelic bear's barrier. "What if Tracker is right? What if he seriously hurts Congo in a way that he can't take responsibility for? What it he hurts us?! It looks like he's giving up right now..."

"Don't fret." Halo reassured L'Amore. "You are in the best hands right now. Nothing is getting through this barrier of mine—your safety is promised. Congo is doing everything in his power for you. I have never witnessed him failing to do a task, not even difficult ones. This is extremely hard, however; he was right when he said he could not do this alone. That is why Peace is here with us. Peace, it's time to perform your works."

Peace did not say a word. She only walked beside the white poodle, sat Indian-style, and positioned her hands in two special ways: her left hand in front of her face and pointed upwards, and her right hand upon the back of L'Amore's head. Once situated in that position, a white aura lined Peace's body and then L'Amore's.

"Huh? What's happening?" wondered L'Amore, whose nerves were suddenly becoming still and at ease.

"Close your eyes and try to calm your mind. Then you shall know." Halo answered.

L'Amore did as she instructed. Within a matter of a few seconds, she was brought into a supernatural environment of orange-shaded clouds, as if they were all being struck by the sun's rays as if from a sunrise or sunset. Peace was sitting in her meditative position atop one of the clouds and L'Amore was sitting right in front of her.

_"Welcome, L'Amore."_ greeted Peace, standing up with a light smile.

_"Ah, hello Peace. Where am I... and what did you do?"_ she replied, standing after her.

_"We are in a spiritual realm created by the power of my meditation and the state of your mind, body and spirit, L'Amore. This creation is thanks to my special power, called Synchronization. This is the only way I can communicate with others as well, aside from using nonverbal language. We are speaking to each other with our minds."_

_"Oh, I see. Why are we here, or rather, why did you bring me here?"_

_"This is medium that will be used to channel all of your positive energy and strengthen it, so that it is able to balance out anything that creates your negative energy. In your case, the thing we are most concerned with is your fear of anything imbued with the presence of fire." _ Peace explained to her.

L'Amore was astonished. _"Really? Is that possible?"_

_"Yes. However, to make that balance happen, you must bring out that positive energy by achieving inner peace. Focus your mind, align your spirit, and relax your body. I am here to help you through the gates that block your passage to that state of inner peace. Once you are there, I assure you, your fear will not have an effect on you for the rest of your days."_

_"How can you be so sure of that? Taking a fear away sounds impossible, and even if you could, I would still be weak to fire!"_

Peace took a moment to take in what she had just said. _"Much of that is true, L'Amore. However, there are a couple of things you must realize, as a Bean Titan,"_ she began to explain, sitting down again in Indian-style. _"Anyone that knows that they are weak to an element is no different to your knowledge of being weak to fire. Whatever element it is, it has more of a deteriorating effect than most other dangers. But as heroes, we must be able to adapt to those dangers and face them, if the need arises. Even danger has a weakness, L'Amore. Since this danger is an element, as a basic rule of thumb here, you must fight the ruthlessness that comes from fire with the ruthlessness of ice that you possess. Fire and ice are opposed... therefore, they are able balance each other out. Balance is key in this confrontational relationship, but you must be quick and confident enough to confront it. Fear is not a factor. I can do this for you very easily."_

L'Amore sat close-by with her, in the same fashion. She closed her eyes in her mental state and began to focus everything that Peace had taught her. _"I think I understand that, now. I must focus, right? I do that all the time with my Ice Beam. I just have to... how you say, transfer that focus, right? Inner peace, balance, and having no fear. No running away."_

_"Yes. Let the positive energy flow out and ease the negative energy. Faith is your source of your power and your spirit. Draw yourself closer to that state of inner peace. Once you are there, I can perform an Absolution on your fear, to cast it away forever."_

_"Peace?"_ L'Amore called, keeping her eyes closed. _"I believe that this will work and all, but I just have one more thing to ask you. When you said that faith is the source of me, what did you mean?"_

_"As the Angel of Faith, I am granted special qualities dealing with the perception of all things. In other words, I can detect the greatest inner quality or feeling that truly empowers an individual. Balance is my center—I put that above all else, and it allows me to perform at my greatest capacity. I notice a lot of things in you, L'Amore. The greatest of them all is faith; it is in your ability to be self-confident and trust in not only yourself, but in others as well. That faith strengthens you. It is what truly helped you in your fight against Jabber. With that said, in order to live at your greatest, you keep anyone and everyone that you instill your trust into close to your heart... because you want to be able to trust and protect them, as they would do the same for you. And believe me when I say this: your faith is the greatest tool to use towards your path to inner peace. Use it always, and never forget who you have faith in."_

L'Amore nodded, now much more aware of what she must do. As she was focusing, she was thinking of everyone and everything she could confide in and trust without hesitation. Along the way, she encountered the source of her fear, but she remained steadfast and did not back away from it. She wanted to end the fear once and for all, and she was confident in not only Peace's abilities, but her own as well, to fight against it.

_**(Meanwhile, back to the fight...)**_

"Your power dropped some, Congo. I assume that means you understand." Tracker guessed.

"Oh I understand that, don't get me wrong... and I respect your reasons for how you go about fighting. But there's something else I understand too. There is someone here who is on a crutch—a crutch that has had an effect on her for pretty much her whole life. I won't allow that burden to be on her any longer, even if that means I have to take on your fire myself... or dying here and now. I want to show her that just because you have that weakness, it doesn't mean that you can never overcome it!"

"Then what does that have to do with me?" Tracker questioned.

Congo clenched his fists and closed his eyes in disappointment. "It's because you're a contradiction to your element, Tracker." he answered.

The hound dog suddenly set his hands ablaze, taking offense to his comment. **"What was that...?"** he interrogated him with a low, angry growl in his voice.

Congo used Iron Defense, covering his body with a steel coating. "I didn't stutter, dude. Fire, as I've always known it, is an element that takes charge. It shows power and it burns with fury. My dad is an expert with it, and can dominate anyone he wanted to with it. And Scorch, he's the personification of it—a dragon that can breathe and use fire to the point where he shows no remorse for his opponent. You on the other hand..." Congo paused, raising on of his fists towards Tracker and giving a thumbs-down at him. "You're just a quitter."

Becoming bent out of composure on that last word, Tracker's power suddenly surged up to his maximum levels, forcing him into his Solar Mode (Ascended Legendary). He then used Flash Step repeatedly to progressively put himself closer to Congo, while wearing an angry look on his face. Seeing this change happen quickly and distance closing between them, Congo expeditiously defended by putting himself under his Web Fortress, a dome made of his hardened steel webs.

Once Tracker was inches from the outside of the web dome, he twisted his body away while charging a massive amount of fire energy into his entire arm. He was preparing his Stone Smite attack—the same move that he claimed "would have flattened" Gigi in his match against her earlier.

"DON'T... EVER... CALL ME THAT!" Tracker yelled out, enraged. He launched his power-packed and fiery arm from around his body at the dome, causing it to collapse quickly. Tracker continued forcing his fist to smack Congo with it.

The gorilla was hit back hard, being forced bouncing and rolling on the ground until he hit the outer wall of the Danger Chamber.

**[I^I]**

"Congo!" Cheeks called out, now worried for the health of his brother. He started to run for the elevator.

Jake teleported in front of him and put the tip of his wing at the center of Cheeks's chest, to stop him. "No. Your brother said not to go in there, no matter what happens." he reminded him.

"I know, but that's one of Tracker's most ruthless hits... and even though he had a steel coating on from Iron Defense, Congo could be out cold right now! Someone has to help him!"

Jake kept on holding Cheeks back in the same position. "We can't. Me—I'm only following orders; but you have something more than that. Wasn't it called Brothers' Honor?"

Cheeks immediately stopped trying to get around the duck, being reminded of the policy that he had just mentioned. "Yeah... you're right, Jake," he told him, returning back to the controls.

"If I understand that concept right, it means that you have to respect the actions and pacts that your brothers take on..." Jake began to figure, "otherwise, it sets the burden of dishonor on not only yourself, but on your family as well. Congo is doing this all to help L'Amore cope with her fear of fire, which is dangerous to them both. However, if you really analyzed the situation at this very moment, you would come to the conclusion that everything is still going okay, despite the fact that Congo had brought this upon himself."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive. Look." Jake pointed towards L'Amore. "L'Amore's eyes are closed and Peace is in mental meditation with her, seizing all of their senses and communicating with their minds. In other words, she isn't aware of the fire or the heat coming from it... and Halo is still protecting them all with her barrier. If anything, I'm betting you that Peace is working some of her own magic to help L'Amore."

Cheeks understood that, but was still concerned about his brother. "What about Congo?" he asked.

"The hit he took cracked his health down from 90% to 20%. Shocking, yes... but Congo is still okay."

"What? Really?" Cheeks wondered, still worried.

"Just watch." Jake reassured him, still keeping his eyes on the action.

**[O^O]**

_(BGM Change: "Sasuke's Destiny" — Naruto.)_

"Never in my life would I consider myself a quitter..." Tracker grumbled, sneering towards Congo where he now laid motionless. "If I am challenged to a fight, I don't back down. That's another piece of my pride, regardless of what the situation might be. Don't EVER put my name and that word in the same sentence. Now you know what happens when you do—I will knock you down, and you will stay down. I'm out of here."

Tracker turned around and began to walk off.

"Stop... right there..." Congo struggled to say while fighting the pain to get up.

_"He's still moving?! That was a fully-powered Stone Smite fist... more powerful than the one I would've hit Gigi with before!" _the hound dog thought in shock, stopping and turning back around to the gorilla.

"No way... am I gonna just let you walk away... after all I've done to make this happen!"

Congo finally stood back on his feet, but then trudged his way closer to the center of the Chamber, while Tracker was about four feet away from the elevator on the other side. His body ached from the rolling after being hit by Tracker. He looked over towards the girls and saw that L'Amore's eyes were back on the action again, but Peace kept her right hand on her head still. He then turned his attention back to Tracker.

"Congo..." Tracker murmured.

"I stand by what I said... and I don't care about what your pride says to you. You keep selling yourself short, Tracker. I don't know if you realize that. To let Tiny dictate what you can and can't do in your relationship with her without much of a defense... that's shameful. But that's beside the point. What if you limited yourself to the point where you didn't care about your fire techniques? If you had that mindset last Monday, you probably could have made it by Gigi by a very slim chance... but you wouldn't have lasted even two minutes against Roam because both his strength and his element dominate yours. Stop being such a damn hypocrite and use anything you know! There's no way that I will respect that "quitter" attitude, no way in hell... that's why I try to help people push themselves out of that! I'm not particularly defining you as a quitter. I use it loosely, only to say don't EVER give up. That's why we're here, all of us. I repeat this for the last time: I am here right now to give my absolute best to help L'Amore cope with the presence of fire at any point in time... even if that means putting my life on the line. You hear me? I don't care if half the bones in my body are broken, you keep firing all of those hotshots at me right now... until she isn't afraid anymore! I am not moving an inch from this spot... so don't you dare quit on me, Tracker!"

He finally understood what was going on. The gorilla's words still upset him a great amount, but he realized what his goal was. Tracker's role in it is simple: to go out of his way and literally hurt Congo. Now conscious that it was L'Amore that Congo was worried about, Tracker is willing to help him out now. However, he felt sort of like Cheeks now, somewhat worried that Congo might just lose the will to keep taking on punishment—especially after the heavy and brutal hit he took.

He did not have a choice, as Congo put on another sheet of steel armor on his skin from Iron Defense. Tracker charged up a pretty decent sized fireball in his right hand. "Okay, but I don't want you to just keep killing yourself here," he said, just before launching the fireball at Congo.

Staying true to his word, he did not move from the center of the Danger Chamber and took on the full heat of the attack. "Don't worry about what happens to me! Again..." he shouted, even knowing that fire was super effective against him and that he was running out on health. He was hit with another fireball. "Again..." he spoke out. Then a third fireball came, slightly stronger than the previous two. This one knocked off some of the metal armor Congo's chest and made him take a couple of steps backward to keep his footing. "AGAIN!" he yelled out, still persisting on taking the damage with honor.

"Dude, your armor is breaking away. You're not going to—"

"I SAID DON'T QUIT!" Congo interrupted him bluntly. "You need to learn how to put up with rejection, man! I'm rejecting your pride and L'Amore rejected you period, earlier! Don't you realize that? Look, her eyes are open now—she's watching us because Peace is allowing her to, even through her fear! Now is a good a chance as any to prove to both of us that you can do something about those rejections. So what if she doesn't like you because of fire? At least try and be her friend!" He paused and turned his body to the side. "And if you're going to just walk away without a fight, then just throw in the damn towel now because I can't respect a quitter. Always sweating about some kind of—"

"FINE THEN!" Tracker blurted out angrily.

Congo turned back towards Tracker, but was hit with a much larger fireball this time. It was Tracker's Mars Crest, and it made Congo fly back hard, to the wall of the Chamber again. It also got rid of all his Iron Defense armor.

"Oh my..." uttered Halo. "I shall have to prepare a Renew spell, before all of this is over. How is L'Amore, Peace?"

As she was a mute outside of her mind, the tie-dye bear gave a nod of approval.

Halo also sensed that L'Amore's power was rising to a pretty high Legendary level by her standards, and with a silent focus like Gigi's. "Ah, I see. It was a success; she is ready... and with special intentions as well. Peace, before we release her from this barrier, I must advise that you and I try to endure watching this exchange that we are about to see. On my signal..."

Peace nodded again, understanding what her fellow Angel was saying, slowly releasing her hand from the back of L'Amore's head.

In his overbearing pain, Congo barely found the strength to pull his upper body up from the floor. He was at his limit and Tracker was enraged now, preparing to charge up for his greatest offensive move—his Burning Sky Attack. After seeing that Tracker was in the air gathering both light and fire energy, he looked over at L'Amore before turning his attention back to his opponent.

_"Guess I'm about to get it big time now..."_ Congo thought to himself, closing his eyes. _ "This is it. I brought this upon myself—and heck, I don't regret it. I tried my best and I finally got Tracker all fired up at the very least. Well, I can't move, man... do your worst. I'm sorry, Gigi."_

_(The music ends.)_

The flames around Tracker were now enveloping around him and composing themselves into the form of a phoenix. He was ready to charge in now. "Here I come, Congo... and don't blame me. This is what YOU wanted! Burning Sky Attack!" he exclaimed, flying in straight towards the fallen gorilla.

It looked as though all hope was lost for Congo... until suddenly, L'Amore appeared right in front of him, holding a spiraling energy sphere of ice and multicolored light in her left hand. She was looking right at the flames that surrounded Tracker and made up the phoenix, with a battle-ready look on her face.

Tracker noticed her and stopped in the air, floating six feet away from them. "L'Amore... what are you doing?" he wondered, trying to figure out why she is in front of Congo, and even more so of why she is not quivering in fear of the fire around himself.

She moved instantly with Airvoyance, putting herself right in front of Tracker in the air. There was no fear on her face, even up close. "No more!" she exclaimed, attacking with the sphere she had in her hand, forcing it right on the hound's upper chest.

As soon as he was hit by the sphere, Tracker quickly felt inflicted with similar effects that he felt from Gigi's Umbriel Rasengan, in his battle with her. The differences were noticeable. First, instead of being blinded by darkness, his eyesight was blurred to the point where the colors of most of the things he sees would blend into each other. And secondly, replacing the stunning effect of ice-cold water was the presence of overbearingly freezing ice and some mist; both of which were cold enough to not only freeze Tracker solid, but deny any and all heat and fire around him. This was L'Amore's **Miranda Rasengan**. Tracker fell to the ground, encased in ice.

A moment later, L'Amore flicked the ice and caused it to fall off of Tracker, leaving his body freezing and shivering. "I am sorry that I had to do that to you..." she said, looking away. "It is just that I could not just sit by and watch you hurt Congo like this again. Please. It is as you say: enough is enough."

Halo called off her barrier and Peace bowed her head with her hands together and eyes closed, as if she were sending a good faith prayer L'Amore... while everyone else looked in utter shock. L'Amore had just faced up to her fear head-on, just as Congo desired her to. He accomplished what he meant to do, but at the expense of what little health he had left.

Seeing now that the main objective of coming to the Home Base was completed, things can now start going back to normal. Cheeks and Jake finally reentered the Danger Chamber to check into the current situation. Halo used her Renew spell, which completely revitalized all of the health of anyone she chose. This healed both Congo and Tracker; however, Tracker was still shivering from the sheer cold of L'Amore's Miranda Rasengan.

Congo stood to his feet after opening his eyes, due to being healed by the angelic bear. "Huh?" he uttered. "What happened?"

L'Amore turned around to the person that was willing to very much die to help and protect her. She then ran up and hugged the gorilla tight. He felt her shaking a little bit. Once he decided to put her arms around her and return the embrace, the shaking subsided.

"Don't die on me..." she murmured, with some breakage in her voice. "Please stay, always."

Congo was taken aback by her current expressions, but still gladly accepted them wholeheartedly. He remained true to his word. "I will. Always then." he replied.

L'Amore released her hug and took a couple of steps back, slowly. She turned to everyone else. "It is still my weakness, but I am not afraid of fire anymore. I can fight against it now. Thank you so much, everyone. I am eternally grateful." she announced to them, with a light smile.

Tracker was still shivering. "Yeahhh, d-d-d-don't mention it." he uttered halfheartedly, walking towards the elevator to exit the Danger Chamber. "I'm staying here at home for the rest of the night. Seems that everyone wants a piece of me today... and I need to warm up now."

As he left, there was a moment of silence.

"Peace and I shall stay here as well," said Halo, "just so that Tracker will not feel as if he is by himself."

With that said, the two bears followed after the hound dog.

Congo checked his watch. "Well everyone," he began, "we've been here a good thirty minutes at least. I think we should start heading back now, but not before we know what Chipper and Roam have seen for the quarterfinal matches in the UNLIMITED Tournament."

"We don't have to rush, partner... we got plenty of time." spoke out Roam through the PA System of the Danger Room. Apparently, Jake or Cheeks had left the microphone on before they came into the Chamber. The buffalo and Chipper were found inside the control center, where the latter two were previously. They entered when Tracker left.

"Yep," Chipper confirmed. "Sweet said that there would be a thirty minute break before the next round starts, so that'll give us plenty of time to watch the matches in the Memory Room."

Congo smiled, relieved that his plan was working out to his best interests, and in good time. "Great! Let's go there now and see what happened quickly. We still need some time to get back into the backstage area at the Aeroseum after that."

On that note, Cheeks, Jake, Roam and Chipper made their way out of the Danger Room first, with L'Amore and Congo following towards the back of the group.

"Congo?" called the white poodle. She sounded quite quiet and shy.

"Hmm? What's up, L'Amore?"

"Ah... thank you again, for everything."

The gorilla smiled again. "Hey, don't mention it. I never go back on my word. Heck, if anything else... I ought to thank you for stepping in when you did. I didn't know how you felt about the fire and all at that point, but I would've been roasted if you were still stuck there. So honestly, I'm grateful for you too."

After hearing his words, L'Amore wore a happy face. She had gotten over her fear and gained the utmost respect and trust of a dependable fellow Titan. It was amazing to her that Congo was willing to ever give his life for the goal he wanted to accomplish. Because of all of that, she felt indebted to him, and the feeling started to flourish inside of her... especially when she remembered telling him to stay with her.

"Um..." she uttered.

"Something else on your mind?" Congo asked her.

"Mm-hmm. When this tournament is over, no matter what happens... I have something to tell you. Win or lose, I promise to tell you what is on my mind, as you said. I'll keep my word, as long as you keep supporting me through tonight."

The gorilla took her hand as the group proceeded to enter the elevator to ride up to the grand living room.

"Deal," he whispered to her. "I'll be around."

_**"Grazie."**_ she responded, as thanks.

"Sure thing."

**~~(The elevator doors shut closed, as the scene faded out to black.)~~**

**/-/**

**I actually really like this chapter. =)**

**Let me know what you guys think so far. REVIEW please!**

**[The events of the quarterfinals will be addressed in the next chapter.]**


	18. Salutary Measures, Part 2

**AN: ****References used [previously]: Teen Titans, Justice League Unlimited, Final Fantasy (VII: Crisis Core, X, XII, & Tactics Advance), Marvel/X-Men, Pokémon, Kids Next Door, Dragonball Z, Capcom, Naruto, WWE, TNA Impact, Family Guy, Bleach, Code Geass, Sonic Adventure 2, Xiaolin Showdown, Bakugan Battle Brawlers, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, One Piece, Star Wars, Mortal Kombat, and Yu Yu Hakusho.**

**References added in this chapter: Fairy Tail.**_  
_

Chapter 18 — Salutary Measures, Part II

"Welcome back, one and all, to the UNLIMITED Tournament!" announced Sweet, after being teleported by Mac, to the center of the Aeroseum's arena. "We are ready to start the first match of the quarter-finals, and it looks like these two are ready to go, folks!"

The crowd continued to cheer loudly for the excitement that they were about to see from the Bean Titans competing.

Sweet continued his monologue. "As you all know by now, this isn't just any old martial arts tournament. It's the UNLIMITED Tournament, where anything goes and anything can happen! As for this spacious arena that myself and the two Titans beside me are standing in, those of you that were here this past Monday know that it is much more than meets the eye. For anyone that has a strong sense of reality, well... prepare to have it bent out of shape. Dotty, do your stuff!"

The dalmatian in the press box began to input commands into the Aeroseum's system, causing it to put everyone in fixed places throughout a much larger virtual realm.

Within a matter of moments, the nighttime atmosphere of the Aeroseum changed into a vast, verdant garden designed like a maze—layered with ten-feet tall walls of bushes and decorated with many flowers and plants all throughout. It was sunny as well, so everything seen was bright and vibrant. It was this very unreal "magic" that made this environment appear real.

Sweet and the two young Titans fighting in the first match were positioned to the north side of the maze, within the outermost borders.

"Ha ha!" Sweet chuckled. "I hear a lot of "oohs" and "ahhs" in the audience. That means we did our job right! That's right folks! From here on out, you'll be looking at different battlegrounds for every match! As for our participants, they will have to adapt to every situation, just like they always do... along with trying to secure that all-important victory. Nibbly and Princess, good luck to you both!"

The audience began to make excited noises again.

* * *

**_UNLIMITED Tournament, Quarter-finals!_**

_MATCH 1: Nibbly vs. Princess._

Once Sweet finished his opening announcement, he gave the two Bean Titans a moment to prepare to fight each other.

Nibbly equipped the Fist of Tebigong on his right hand and then aimed it towards the purple bear, while using his left hand to pat the left pocket of his khaki shorts. He looked right at her face. _"If she was able to take Fortune down easily in the first round, then I better bring my 'A' game..."_ he thought.

Princess merely flicked the hair veiling her right eye and then returned the look that the gray bunny was giving her.

"That's it?" Sweet wondered.

"That's it," the snarky purple bear replied indirectly, with a smirk on her face.

"All right then, if you are both ready... Titans, let's THROW-DOWN!"

With that said, the audience gave one last loud cheer. Sweet requested the help of Mac's teleportation to separate himself from the super-powered combat between the two young Bean Titans.

"I hope you won't need that Geass of yours to beat me. Besides, that's kind of cheap." Nibbly stated, still keeping his eyes on her.

Princess scoffed. "Oh trust me, that's the least of your worries," she replied, creating a ball of lightning in her right hand.

The bunny wore a skeptical look now. "Thunder isn't your element..."

"Don't you know that I know Black Magic? I can form and use it how ever I please." She paused her speech to form another Black Magic ball in her left hand, but made of water. "And that even includes handling two opposing elements at the same time."

_(Background music: "Cipher Peon Battle" — Pokémon Colosseum.)_

Nibbly was forced into a defensive stance, wary of his elemental weakness to water and how much that force could be amplified when it is conducting electricity.

Princess noticed his movement. "So now that you understand, let's see how good you are!" she exclaimed, throwing both of the spheres at him. On the way towards Nibbly, the magical orbs combined into one.

Nibbly's worst intentions came true, so now it was time to put up a good fight. He first stomped the ground and raised his arm up, causing a wall of earth to rise high from the ground. It was used as a shield to protect him from the hydroelectric Black Magic ball, by which on impact created a column of water and lightning, clashing with the earth wall. He was keeping his focus on the wall, making sure that it would not break to the pressure.

Suddenly, Nibbly felt something grab his leg and force his entire body to the floor. He looked to see a thick and heavy vine securing his leg, and then glanced behind him to see his opponent holding the other end of it.

"You're not very good at watching your own back, are you?" Princess questioned him as she was using Leech Vine, making the long green rope glow in that bright purple shade and absorbing a small fraction of Nibbly's energy, which was then sent into Princess's body. After that, the vine disappeared.

Nibbly was surprised that the energy extraction did not hurt too much. More importantly, he was skeptical of her battle strategy at the moment. "If you're trying to get me upset like you did Fortune, you can stop trying..." he claimed. "I'm gonna keep my cool and find a way to beat you, instead of getting mad and giving you that advantage."

"Well that's good to know, really! I can finally have a fair fight! However, I must correct you on one thing though... I already have the advantage—you can believe that, Nibbly." Princess told him, closing her eyes and assuming an arrogantly positive stance, shrugging and smirking.

"Despite you being psychic, I'm not going to let you psych me out. And even if that was true, what makes you think that I'm just gonna give up here and now?"

"Are you insinuating that I'm trying to trick you? To psych you out to the point where you should not even fight would be very undeserving of how far you've come now, Nibbly. Just do your best while you can. As I did with Fortune, I'm only telling you the truth right now."

Nibbly smirked right back at her. "Truth without proof... ha! All right then. Enough chitchat."

"Your move." she said, turning around with her eyes still closed. As she reopened them, she was shocked to see Nibbly appearing right in front of her.

"Thanks! Fist of Tebigong, Earth!" Nibbly exclaimed, striking Princess's body with the iron gauntlet and forcing her body to zoom into the air behind her. She crashed into the earth wall that Nibbly created before, adding extra punishment to the attack. The entire wall crumbled after that.

Princess ended up on the floor, around a variety of different flowers. Seeing them gave her a look of concern for some reason.

Her attention was diverted from the flowers when she then saw Nibbly high in the air, but he looked different. His body had appeared in the form of a silhouette, with a green glow lining it on the outside. It was his Wudai Mode, and that was when she knew that the battle was going to get a bit more serious.

"Wudai Crater, Earth!" the young bunny shouted, leading with his fists hammer-locked together and covered in a thick case of rock.

The scene shifted outward for a moment, showing that a small fraction of the entire battle space was replaced with a large crater, dipping at least a good ten feet into the earth at its epicenter.

**[I^I]**

"Nimbletoe is a hell of a perk," Dep uttered, amazed at how quickly Nibbly moves, despite having earth as his element.

"You're talking about Nimbletoe!?" spoke a wide-eyed Canyon. "The boy just punched a big dent into ten percent of the area here! I'm more surprised at his strength, and I'd bet his father is too!"

"You'd win that bet, partner..." replied Hippity. "My boy is doing just fine out there with her."

Fancy pointed at the proud father. "Uh-huh. Just remember you still have that bet against me right now. Besides, Princess hasn't really shown out yet."

"How do you know?"

"I don't. It's just this feeling I have. You know... just like how Mac believes in unexpected possibilities in these kinds of fights."

The cardinal smiled. "Someone's learning! Good to know, Fancy." he said.

**[O^O]**

Once the dust cleared from the impact, Nibbly confirmed that he did hit Princess with his Wudai Crater assault. She was nearly motionless on the ground, eyes closed, but slightly breathing. It appeared that she could not endure the heavy attack. With that in mind, Nibbly proceeded to tread out of the crater he created with the assumption that he had won.

_(The music stops.)_

About ten seconds later, Nibbly suddenly was struck hard on his back with enough force to send him into the outer wall of the garden maze, fifty feet away. He pulled himself up after landing on the ground and looked to find Princess standing where he was hit, now with her Violet Whip in her right hand. She was panting a little bit before she spoke.

"That Arc Lash I sent at you was a bit on the weak side, but consider it a taste of what's to come to you, Nibbly." Princess claimed, speaking of the ranged purple energy blade attack that shot from out of her Violet Whip, after lashing it toward her target.

"That's not what I'm surprised about," he responded, twisting his back a little bit to waive off some of the pain inflicted upon it. "I came down on you with all that force, and there was no way you could've stopped it, let alone there being no way you should have been able to move from that spot in the crater where you were laying."

Princess looked away solemnly, appearing to have a suddenly troubled mind.

_(BGM change: "Find Your Way" — Final Fantasy VIII.)_

"You're right—I couldn't stop it... I didn't even have enough time to get away from it. I was more worried about trying to stop myself from seeing it coming," she told him.

Nibbly was confused hearing that. "I don't know if you're trying to be witty or not, but isn't your psychic ability supposed to **help** you?"

"Don't get me wrong—it does help me. It gave me enough time to cast a strong enough Protect spell and block off some of the damage you delivered. I just wish that it was by my own freedom of choice. I don't like my psychic ability. Personally, it's unfair to me."

"What do you mean?!" the gray bunny persisted in his curiosity.

The violet bear snarled briefly. "I just told you! What, you don't believe me? Then allow me to reiterate... I **HATE** being psychic. I would much rather use my Geass because it gives me complete control to do whatever the hell I want! To have psychic thought... it's like some unknown force is forcing me to do its bidding and perform some action, otherwise I would suffer for NOT being in compliance with its orders! If I had the power to remove this one so-called 'gift' of mine, then I would, without any doubt in my mind."

**[I^I]**

"What in the world is she saying?!" Mina and Tina simultaneously uttered.

"I honestly don't know," Mystic followed. "Never in my years of being a Bean Titan have I heard myself or any other psychic in the organization say that they don't like being psychic. Sure, we have the Psychic's Code to be wary of, but it is still a gift, nonetheless. Like Nibbly said, it helps us. Mina, Tina, Fortress, Hoppity, Lucy, the other three Angels, and even my daughter Leah could agree."

"As true as that is, you gotta consider one thing..." Spunky began to say. "Princess has a thorny demeanor. What I mean by that is: the way she carries herself, her personality, her wit, her desire to speak the truth whether it hurts someone or not... I understand why Fortune has that tension with her. But the point is that she believes in her own fashion of doing things. It took me a while to really figure it out, but whatever that fashion is, it affects everything she says, does, and thinks about. Much like how Slowpoke is entitled to the strength of his will. So maybe, just maybe... in her mind, she feels that being psychic is only a crutch to her; it is a thorn she wants to get rid of, but cannot."

There was no disagreement amongst those in the press box.

"Those are VERY good points," Dotty responded to her husband.

"Whenever I think of someone being psychic," began Kuku, "there is basically this mechanism working within that person, and it acts as their second nervous system—their 'super-conscience', to put it practically. But what I wonder is this: is there truly a way to cast away that mechanism and act on your own force of will?"

"That's what Princess wants... but the chances of her ever gaining that freedom are second to none, so unfortunately for her, she will have to live with that. I know, it sounds pessimistic to say that... but it is the bottom line." Mac explained.

**[O^O]**

Nibbly was silent for a moment, taking in everything that his opponent confessed about her dilemma of having psychic powers.

"The point I wanted to make was this..." began Princess, who was twirling around her Violet Whip, becoming antsy to get back into fighting the young bunny. "I have more than enough resources at my disposal to sustain me. My magical abilities, my Geass, and this Violet Whip I'm holding are just a few of the things that I bring to the table. On the side, I also pay very close attention to what a lot of you say in these matches. It helps me find your weaknesses, so that when I fight you, I can exploit them."

Nibbly remained still, lowering his eyes when he heard that last comment about weaknesses. "What exactly does that mean to me?" he asked.

"Didn't I tell you before? I said that I have the advantage in this fight—you just haven't realized it yet. All you should know right now is that my Violet Whip cuts through many things... and like I told Fortune earlier, it even cuts through energy after I use Leech Vine on its source. In your case, this means that I can cut right through your Lithos Armor and take this match home without any problem!"

After saying that, Princess finally charged forward a small distance towards Nibbly swung her Violet Whip at him. It made contact with his left shoulder and latched onto it. She concluded that she inflicted great damage upon him, much like she did to Fortune. He was not moving for a good ten seconds.

_(The music fades to nothing.)_

Sweet was watching closely, unsure of the outcome of this exchange. _"Something's off..."_ he thought.

Nibbly, showing little response to the damage done to him, removed his Fist of Tebigong and then slowly motioned his right hand over to grasp the Violet Whip, which still remained on his shoulder.

This shocked Princess. "What the hell...?" she uttered, widening her eyes a little.

The bunny began to pull on the Violet Whip, and in effect, forced Princess to be pulled as well. She reacted by pulling her end of the weapon as well, now playing tug of war with her opponent.

"Princess, as much as you talk a good game and listen to the words people say, it sounds to me that you don't think about the things you don't know." Nibbly told her.

She grunted, trying to keep ahold of her Violet Whip. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're overestimating yourself and the possibility that you're gonna win."

"How dare you say that!" Princess exclaimed, increasing her Legendary aura.

"I DARE to say that because it's true," Nibbly continued to talk, raising his power as well to sustain the pull he has on her. "Let me do some explainin', then. You don't know enough to just say you're going to win without a problem. See, if you relied on your psychic ability, then maybe you would know about everything that, normally, you wouldn't otherwise. Let me tell you why this match isn't quite as easy as you think. Remember how Britannia talked a lot about spirit energy in her match with Millennium? She told him that spirit energy is everywhere, and she's right; you might not realize it, but it's just like the air you breathe all around you. What you don't know is that it comes in two forms: power and pressure. Spiritual pressure is the energy in use, mostly when you're showing off your power. Mooch, in the New 12, shows this all the time when he's using his sword. The other one, spiritual power, is what's within every living being... the energy within us. It just is used in different ways, and when it is used, the possibilities are endless."

Princess smirked. "Pardon me for interrupting, but a few of my Violet Whip's thorns are like wedged into your shoulder. Just thought you should know. You know, pain and all of that jazz..." she remarked.

"I was actually getting to that," Nibbly replied, causing the bear's smirk to disappear from her face. "A few sentences ago, you mentioned my Lithos Armor and how you said you'd be able to cut through it since you used Leech Vine on me earlier. Well, lemme tell you: you're BOTH right and wrong at the same time."

_"What?!"_ Princess thought to herself, being one of many watching that were confused at what Nibbly was saying.

_(BGM change: "Fade to Black_A04a" — Bleach.)_

"You were right that you would be able to cut into my defense... but that was only because the Leech Vine took out a bit of spirit energy from the Lithos Armor itself, **NOT** from me. To explain how you're wrong, just think of my Lithos Armor as being a thin layer of invisible, earthy crust all over my body... only, I did not create it. It is its own makeup of spiritual power bound on my body. None of my personal energy whatsoever has anything to do with my Lithos Armor. You're pretty much just cutting away at a shell; in other words, you haven't been hurting me very much at all. And the power you're cutting away is releasing spiritual pressure..." he paused, suddenly snatching her off the ground with the Violet Whip and then delivering a kick to send her into the garden maze. "In other words, the less of the Armor I have on me, the stronger I get."

Once he was finished speaking, he grabbed the Violet Whip with both hands and then broke it by pulling it apart, before tossing it away. He knew that it was Princess's source of power, both physically and magically, so getting rid of it was the best choice. After doing that, he equipped his other elemental Shen Gong Wu, as he was the Xiaolin Rabbit of Earth. He pulled out what was in his left pocket, which appeared to be a golden yellow boomerang with blue streaks marked on it. Nibbly was also wearing a sort of horned shoulder guard, which glowed a bright yellow color while he was in Wudai Mode. He touched his shoulder, causing the guard to expand and cover essentially his entire left arm. This was his Longhorn Taurus, the Shen Gong Wu that amplified any of his earth element skills and Shen Gong Wu.

"Game over, Princess! Big Bang Meteorang!" shouted Nibbly, throwing the boomerang he held. When it left his hand, the projectile replicated into multiple razor-sharp boomerangs, of which were all still under Nibbly's command. He intended to shred up the entire maze and defeat Princess in the process.

Seeing firsthand that the Big Bang Meteorang was cutting away at the maze in portions, Princess had no choice but to run and hope that she would not run into a dead end. As she was running, she still refused to resort to using her Geass or her psychic ability to aide her struggle against Nibbly. She assured him that she did not need to get an easy win by using her Geass, and also despised her own psychic skills—by which she claims is like someone forcing her to do something against her own free will. Princess was essentially depending on luck.

_"What do I do...?" _she wondered, still hopeful for the possibility that she can still win this. Her mindset was on the task of trying not to get sliced and diced by the Big Bang Meteorang's onslaught, so she did not have very much time to think about turning the fight around. After about a minute of escaping harm, she slowed down when she ran past a circle of roses. The very sight of them made Princess remember why she felt confident about winning earlier, and she felt dumb for not acting on it earlier instead of complaining about being psychic without her own intentions. It was time to end the match.

_(The music fades away.)_

Nibbly looked around the mostly destroyed garden maze, after calling the Big Bang Meteorang back to his hand. He saw that only the central area of the maze was left and assumed that Princess, by pure luck, survived. He began to walk over to the center. "Final warning, Princess..." he started to speak. "I know you're in there, so by the time I come within three feet of that there safe zone you're in, this match is over for ya!"

To his surprise, before he got within ten feet of the central portion of the maze, a small part of the wall he was approaching got blown away by a flurry of Arc Lashes.

"Please..." Princess spoke out after scoffing. She was holding a reformed Violet Whip. "With what I'm about to show you and everyone else here, you won't even get within three feet of me."

"I thought I tore that whip apart!" Nibbly exclaimed while distancing himself from her weapon some more, shocked that it looked as good as new.

"Need I remind you? My Violet Whip is made up of most of my **magical** power, transferred from my own magical energy reserves. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you can't use your own two hands to get rid of magic, hon. Everyone here has seen firsthand at how strong my Violet Whip is, so you all know that I have a lot of magic power in me. But..." she paused as her forest green dress began to glow in a bright green light, and her Legendary power increased a bit more, "if you think that this whip of mine is my ultimate weapon, then you've got another thing coming."

As she was done speaking, the Violet Whip materialized into bright sparkles of dust, all of which fell to the ground. The bright green light from her dress then intensified, before flowing to both her hands, where the font of her power was her greatest.

**[I^I]**

Most of those in the press box were in awe, as this new course of action that Princess was taking was unexpected. Many of them thought she needed her Violet Whip to beat Nibbly.

"Told you she was waiting for her moment to show out." Fancy proclaimed, more ecstatic about winning her bet against Hippity.

Mac glanced over at the cat. "Did you know she had hidden powers that none of us have seen yet?" he asked her.

"Not in the slightest... I was just going with a hunch, and I'm glad I did!"

Dotty was checking Princess's statistics. "Well whatever she's doing, it is making her magical strength even stronger than before. In fact, from what I'm taking in from these stat changes, all of her magic has taken on many different forms now. What IS this?" she pondered, seeming as though she cannot fathom what Princess is capable of.

**[O^O]**

_(BGM change: "Morrigan's Theme" — Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge.)_

Princess discarded the light by extending her hands quickly out to her sides. In that moment, the light reformed into a pair of small green scepters, both being held in her hands. The scepters each had a multicolored, ten-petaled flower design at its top. Looking at it from a distance, it appeared that Princess was holding a pair of actual flowers, when in fact, they were solid vessels housing essentially all of her magical power. That power was now even further enhanced.

Nibbly was in a defensive stance while he watched this change, expecting that she would attack him. He lowered his guard, as no harm was done to him, but was still cautious and curious about what she had planned. "What are those?" he questioned.

She held the decorative scepters up in front of her. "These are my **Twin Floras**. Along with some fresh new moves that no one has ever seen, this is where all my magic went, and believe me when I tell you this, you're not gonna last against it... or rather, you won't last against the new skills I have."

"How can you be so sure of that?"

"Didn't I tell you early on that I had the advantage in this fight? Well now, these scepters are the reason why. Both my Black Magic and White Magic are in these, and the other moves are called **Floral Arts** now. So instead of further explaining this to you, I would rather cut to the chase. You better be ready for this, Nibbly. Your move."

Nibbly was in thought. _"If it's just her magic, then I shouldn't have a whole lot to worry about. I've been dodging a lot of it before, but... if her magic is as good as she says it is, then I might be in trouble. Regardless, let's just finish this."_

The bunny called upon the power of his Big Bang Meteorang and tossed it again, aiming to deal considerable damage to Princess as she was wide open.

Once the Shen Gong Wu left his hand, the Twin Floras that Princess held suddenly changed in appearance, upon her request. The multicolored flower symbols transformed into white daisies, much to Nibbly's surprise.

"Aeroga," Princess chanted, holding one of her scepters out in front of her. It glowed a bright green and span rapidly, before quickly creating a fairly large tornado in the space between herself and Nibbly. It was actually her original Black Magic spell, but cast from one of the Twin Floras, which made any of her magic stronger than usual. The effect of the spell caused every replica of the Big Bang Meteorang to get swept away by the wind and fall to the ground in several random places, none of which were anywhere near Princess herself. The tornado died away in about seven seconds.

Not wanting to let up on the offense, Nibbly continued his attack from a distance. He picked up his Fist of Tebigong and combined its power with the Longhorn Taurus on his left arm. The result of this allowed him to launch large rocky "fists" at Princess repeatedly. He gave out a battle cry while he was attacking.

As she was dodging the first few flying earth fists, her other Flora scepter changed its appearance into a white tulip, which glowed white and automatically cast Protectra on Princess, just before one of the fists hit her and knocked her back. The effects of Protectra were the same as Protect from earlier, but with much more potency in warding off damage, and lasting a shorter period of time.

"I gotcha now, Princess!" Nibbly exclaimed, running forward and jumping high into the air after the flying rocky fist hit her.

_"That's what you think..."_ she thought before deciding to start getting back to her feet. As she was budging, the Twin Floras both shifted their appearances to look like a pair of bluebonnets and glowed a deep blue color.

Nibbly was high in the air, falling down towards Princess's current position, leading with the Fist of Tebigong. "Longhorn Taurus! Big Bang Meteorang!" he called out his Shen Gong Wu. This junction maneuver caused a painless yellow light to flash on his opponent's body, and the replicas of the Big Bang Meteorang that were scattered all around the ground came to life under the command of the Longhorn Taurus, which made them home in closer and closer to the yellow light flashing on Princess's body. She was about to be attacked from every direction. "Pick your poison—either way it's gonna hurt!" Nibbly told her.

"Game over, Nibbly." she responded, while the blue aura in her bluebonnet-decorated scepters flowed on through to her arms as well.

_"What?!"_ he thought in surprise of what she was about to do.

**"Floral Art: Bluebonnet Whirl!"**

Once Princess called this new technique out, she levitated herself slightly off of the ground and quickly started to spin rapidly in place. At the same time, the "petals" from both the scepters' designs began to shoot out many copies of themselves as if a very strong wind was blowing them away. They scattered in large numbers all around her and attacked anything they came into contact with. The petals were not ordinary; they were imbued with the water element and had special effects added to them when they hit something. Upon contact, they immediately form bubbles on or around any surface, varying in size, and all have a chance of inflicting either Immobilize or Disable on its target, making the person or thing unable to move or function (respectively).

The many Big Bang Meteorangs, the Fist of Tebigong, the Longhorn Taurus, and Nibbly himself were all hit by the Bluebonnet Whirl. The Shen Gong Wu all fell to the ground, and Nibbly landed about five feet away from Princess's position. He felt the infliction of paralysis upon the halt of his momentum on the ground of the destroyed garden maze.

**[I^I]**

A majority of the Titans in the press box were awestruck at Princess.

"What a technique!" uttered Fortress, never seeing a water ability used like that before.

"Just how much magical power does Princess have left?! She had to have used a lot by now!" Canyon exclaimed.

"Enough for one more powerful spell," replied Dotty, looking at her status. "That Floral Art she just used took up a lot of energy, but at her expense, it came with a good benefit to her. Nibbly can't do a thing right now because he's under two ailments, Immobilize and Disable; and all of those bluebonnet petals took out every last bit of his Lithos Armor. Princess wasn't kidding. She knew exactly what she was doing when she performed that move. She knew about his Lithos Armor's elemental weakness to water, and also the fact that if she had chopped away at it more and more, Nibbly would only get stronger. However, with those two status effects working to his detriment, there isn't a thing he can really do to prove his strength."

Spunky nodded, agreeing with what his wife just said. "Even though she had to take a few heavy hits herself, Princess really did have the advantage."

Hippity handed Fancy his $50 in the tournament pot. "Well, here ya go Fancy. My boy Nibbly had a good run." he said, knowing that the end of the match was near.

**[O^O]**

One of the Twin Floras changed back to its original multicolored appearance, while the other one took the form of a sunflower.

"_(aside)_ And all without using my Geass... _(aloud) _Game, set, and match, Nibbly." Princess proclaimed, distancing herself and pointing the sunflower scepter at Nibbly's body.

The sunflower glowed a bright orange and cast another Black Magic spell. This effect made fiery orange rays of light appear underneath Nibbly. The lights compressed in towards Nibbly quickly and then suddenly let out a blast, bursting up from beneath him and delivering a great deal of punishment. This was the Black Magic spell, Flare.

Sweet signaled Dotty to revert the Aeroseum's arena back to its original form, while he went over to check on Nibbly.

"Nibbly is unable to continue! The victory goes to Princess!" he announced.

The purple bear cast away her Twin Floras, which then reverted back to the green lights from earlier and reentered her body. Her magic was her own again, as she would need it all for her next match, against L'Amore in the semifinals.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

_MATCH 2: Nibbler vs. Fetch._

"Here's our second match, everyone!" began Sweet, before signaling a couple of Watcher cameras to display something on the big screens. "If you will look up at the tournament brackets on the screens, you will see that L'Amore is bumped up into the semifinals already. That means that there will be only two more matches this round, and that right now, L'Amore is out taking a breather for now. But for now, let us all get right back into it! All right Dotty, let's see the stage for this match!"

After a short delay in time, the virtual setting began to be revealed to everyone in attendance. Nibbler and Fetch both looked down to see that their legs were being covered by gradually increasing amounts of sand. As they were digging themselves out of it, as many as ten small pyramids began to rise on the borders of what was previously the Aeroseum's battle arena. Some solid walls, stone pillars, rock formations, and flaming torches decorated the field inside in various yet fitting ways, surrounding both the combatants separately. And finally, the atmosphere also changed; the night sky was filled with more stars and had a full moon out to the west. It was not particularly a maze, just a surrounding-based battlefield.

Sweet was found sitting atop one of stone pillars, right in between the two northernmost pyramids. "Ah, the **Pyramid Complex**—my favorite training simulation venue!" he announced. "This, I think, will be very fun to watch, which is why I will be sitting right here enjoying it all. No need to teleport me anywhere, Mac! Haha, alright then! If you two are ready: then Nibbler and Fetch... let's THROW-DOWN!"

The crowd roared in excitement, ready for the match to get underway.

Ten seconds after Sweet stopped talking, a cold breeze blew across the whole environment. It swept sand across the battlefield and extinguished the flaming torches.

"You feeling this cold, too?" Fetch openly asked Nibbler while casting Haste on himself. He was shivering a little bit.

"Of course I am," Nibbler replied, before giving her hands and feet some heated energy through a quick flash of fire. "I'm just not gonna be the one to run out of body heat by the end of this match."

Fetch raised his eyebrow. "Confident, huh? Alright then. I'll give you five minutes to beat me, before I decide to go into Chronos Mode and take this fight home. If I am not in the least worn out by then, then you will know how time isn't on your side."

Nibbler remembered what the canine's Ascended Legendary power was like. All of Fetch's normal energy buffed his magical energy, which is a threat to her. She must be careful to not get caught in one of his Time Magic spells, despite her gains from her Nimbletoe special ability.

_(BGM start: "Sand Ruins" — Sonic Riders.)_

The time for action was now. The two competitors were separated by a small wall standing between them. Fetch casted Haste on himself to speed his actions, while Nibbler came on the offensive.

"Judolette Flip, Fire!" the bunny shouted, jumping forward and flipping over the wall while her legs were covered in fire, aiming to attack Fetch where he stood.

The canine sidestepped the attack, before initiating a close combat session with her. Despite the fact that his reaction time was quicker than hers, he was surprised that she could still keep up with him.

As they were fighting, they would be thrown back and forward into their surroundings. Whether that meant getting pushed through a stone pillar, fighting against a wall, or establishing dominance over a rock formation, the battle was interesting in that every sense.

About a couple minutes later, Nibbler hit Fetch with a spin kick that sent him flying back to the wall of the western pyramid, which was a part of the virtual venue's arena border.

"Hehe, you're good Nibbler..." Fetch spoke, as he was recovering from hitting his back against the pyramid wall. "You could fight my brother if you wanted to!"_  
_

"Thanks, but no thanks. I doubt he'd go easy on me just because I'm a girl. He plays for keeps."

"Yeah, but he doesn't use his fire moves unless he absolutely thinks he should. I'd say you have him beat in the fire department, after you roasted Tiny in the last round."

Nibbler looked away. "Well, not all the time..." she murmured.

"What do you mean?" Fetch inquired.

"Well, let me let you in on a little secret. I'm at my strongest when I am beat up a lot. In other words, some people could school me if I was at a hundred percent, if they're already stronger than me to begin with. Tracker's a good example of that. Knowing him, he'd beat me down before I get the chance to turn the tables on him."

Fetch understood her Rising Sun ability just from what she just told him, even though he did not know what it was formally called. "Ah," he started to say. "So in other words, if I was Tracker, I shouldn't give you much room to make a comeback when you're starting to get beat down. The best thing for me would be to finish the job before you burn me alive, am I right?"

Nibbler shrugged. "Pretty much."

_(The music fades away.)_

"All right. Before we cut to the chase, can I ask why you're not using your fire moves?" he asked her.

Nibbler turned her head back towards him, with a light smile. "That's one secret I won't tell..."

"Fair enough. Alright, it's already close enough to five minutes now, so get ready to lose, Nibs!"

**[I^I]**

"Gigi," called Kuku, "who do you think will win this fight?"

"I honestly don't have a clue at this point," the black poodle replied. "Fetch has good hand-to-hand combat, and a bit of control over time and space on the side, when he's in Chronos Mode. Nibbler has a good amount of agility, but starts off pretty weak with her fire techniques... however, those very techniques get an incredible boost of power as she gets more and more fatigued, and at any point, she can turn the tables quickly with her element. It could go either way."

Mac had a skeptical look on his face.

"What is it?" Hippity questioned him.

"There is something about the secret that she did not want to tell him. If it helps her, then maybe her chances of winning aren't so slim."

"She's my princess; of course, she's gonna win this one!" Floppity claimed, cheering on for her daughter.

Spunky quickly turned his head to the lavender bunny. "And what makes you think that?" he asked, as he was contesting a bet against her in this match.

"It's a secret..." she responded with a wink.

Spunky groaned before turning to his wife. "Dotty?"

"I know what she has in mind and I would love to let you know about it, but I mustn't. It's for the sake of fairness that I keep the secret a secret." stated the dalmatian, still monitoring the statuses of both the young Bean Titans.

**[O^O]**

_(BGM shift: "Sand Wilderness" — Megaman Zero Collection 2.)_

Fetch proceeded to power up to his Ascended Legendary state, Chronos Mode, donning his special robes and carrying his signature rod, as seen from the previous round against Waddle.

Nibbler reached in her Arrow Sparrow satchel. At the same time, she too was powering up, to her Wudai Mode. Her body turned into a silhouette with glowing red linings. "Arrow Sparrow!" she shouted, throwing a multitude of flaming bird figurines out towards her opponent.

The "ring & twin stars" head of Fetch's rod was currently glowing yellow, increasing his speed and agility. With that in effect, he could dodge the incoming fire sparrows with relative ease, even as they flew back in to try and hit him again.

_"Okay, so apparently, my little birdies are a little slow. I guess I gotta hit him myself then. Time for a change of plans..."_ thought Nibbler, borrowing power from the Arrow Sparrow satchel, before taking it off of her body.

Sweet was still watching the the match from atop a stone pillar. _"What is she up to?"_ he wondered, still intrigued with the fight so far.

Suddenly, Nibbler set herself ablaze and then burst forth towards Fetch like a speeding comet. "Flare Blitz!" she yelled out.

"Whoa!" Fetch quickly uttered in surprise. Thanks to his speed, he managed to avoid taking the full heat of the attack; however, he was hit by a fringe of the oncoming attack, causing him to feel the heat and lose balance.

Nibbler swiftly turned around and flew in again. This time, she hit him with full force, driving him through the pyramid he previously hit his back on. Fetch had his rod in front of him when she hit him, so again, it was not the full onslaught of the attack that he took. On the other hand, when Nibbler stopped her fiery flight, she felt some drawback damage equal to half of what she dealt to Fetch, due to the effects of Flare Blitz.

Inside the pyramid, Fetch's rod's head shifted its glow from yellow to an ominous black color, and upon noticing this, he was a bit concerned. The black glow gave him the opportunity to use a fail-safe spell, but using it would later prove to be unfair to Nibbler. Despite the fact that it could help him win in time, the consequence could come back to haunt him, which was the greatest of his worry at this moment in time.

"Come on, Fetch!" Nibbler spoke out from outside the pyramid wall. She couldn't see him because it was dark inside. "I know you're not your brother, but it's more fun if you don't hold back on me! I know that move didn't finish you... so it's your move now!"

He was given her permission now. _"I guess I have no choice. She's gonna hate me later for using this..."_ he thought, as he pointed the rod at Nibbler, who he could see on the outside. "Countdown." he called out, discarding the black glow from the rod and cast it upon Nibbler.

A symbol of a black clock zoomed its way to the young bunny's position, startling her in the process. Strangely, she felt no pain from his spell, but was looking around to see what had happened. To her surprise, she found the number "10" above her head, colored in black.

Before she could figure out what it meant, Fetch was already within striking range of her. The head of the rod was now glowing red, augmenting his physical strength. This forced Fetch to temporarily discard his wizardly robes and perform hand-to-hand combat more comfortably. He unleashed a flurry of attacks on Nibbler, pushing her back towards the opposite end of the battlefield. He landed about 30 hits and finished his offense by swinging his rod and hitting her with it, sending her bursting through the easternmost pyramid's wall. By that time, his strength boost had ended and his wizard robes returned to his body. His rod now glowed blue, increasing his physical defense, which did not help him at this point because Nibbler was already attacked and was out of his sight while she was inside the eastern pyramid.

"Yeah, that doesn't help me..." Fetch muttered, looking at the current glow of his rod. He almost forgot that while in Chronos Mode, his rod picks a random boost for him to have for every fifteen seconds.

From about fifty feet away, Nibbler could still see her opponent as she was struggling to get back on her feet. _"Guess I need to be careful what I wish for..."_ she thought regretfully. She then looked above her head at the number, which now displayed the number "7". It had a dark crimson glow; she could only barely read it.

Fetch set the bottom of his rod on the sand and left it standing there. He himself remained standing beside it, and watched it change its color. It was a light purple glow now, increasing his magic resistance, which again did not help him. "Regardless of whether you come out of there or not, I'm gonna wait until my rod lets me use Masenko again." Fetch announced, deciding to be patient. "Granted though, I should use Immobilize on you to stop you from moving, but I don't know where you are in there... so there would be no point. Plus, I'm still on Haste, so the point is this: you're stuck no matter what you do because time is on MY side."

Once he finished saying that, the glow of his rod turned orange, strengthening his magic power. Fetch was waiting on it to turn into a dark golden shade, which allowed him to use his signature attack.

While in the darkness of the pyramid's interior, Nibbler's ears began to slightly bounce up and down again, like in her match against Tiny. She had an idea, and she could smile thinking of it, for a brief moment. The smile turned into a calm, indifferent expression. "If that's what you think, then you have another thing coming..." she claimed, speaking loud enough so he could hear her.

"Bring it then!" Fetch retorted, before the head of his rod finally answered his wishes and turned dark golden. He yanked it out of the ground, and swung it around above his head, channeling as much energy as he can to make his Masenko beam more devastating when he fires it.

While he was moving his rod, Fetch was looking inside the pyramid to find Nibbler in the darkness. He could detect her energy, but could not pinpoint exactly where she was.

Sweet leaned his head in towards the broken wall of the pyramid. _"Let's see what happens..."_ he thought. He then noticed that the virtual sun was rising now. He smiled.

As Fetch was finished motioning his rod around, he pointed it at broken wall of the pyramid, in the path where Nibbler had been sent through. His Masenko beam was charged up in an orb, increasing in size as more power was flowing into it. While he was watching the inside of the pyramid he saw a couple of sparks dancing left to right occasionally. _"What is that?"_ he wondered until suddenly, a shot of blue lightning quickly burst out from the sparks at the speed of light and struck Fetch's rod. This electrocuted the rod and forced him to let go of it because his arms and chest felt a great amount of the shock. Static was left emanating on Fetch, feeling the after-effects of the sudden attack by Nibbler, who was assumed to have fired the lightning. Fetch was also could not sustain his Chronos Mode.

_(BGM shift: "Dragon Force" — Fairy Tail.)_

**[I^I]**

Many of those watching the fight in the press box were left dumbfounded. Dotty was running tracking tests to explain what just happened.

"Wha... lightning?!" Fancy outbursted.

"How did Nibbler do that? She's supposed to be the Xiaolin Rabbit of Fire!" Aurora added.

"Floppity! You were expecting this, weren't you?" Canyon interrogated her.

"Actually, I wasn't. The only child of mine that has ever done any technique of the thunder element was Springy, but we lost him when Wrinkle invaded our home several years ago."

"True," stated Thunderbolt. "However, it doesn't quite explain how she can fire a lightning bolt as effectively as I do, or most other electricity users."

"Ah, I see!" Dotty exclaimed, turning everyone's attention to what she was about to say. "I ran a couple of quick tests to track what Nibbler was doing with her energy at that point in time. It seemed like she was focusing not only her energy, but her mind and body as well to prepare her attack. It was focused so much that it could easily flow to different parts of her body fluidly, through her arms, chest, stomach, and even her fingertips. The energy was drawn out from her fingertips, and all of that focused energy was shot out not as a stream of fire, but a concise, yet quick and intense shot of lightning. With enough focus, she very much shifted her element... which is quite amazing if you ask me."

"And Fetch is out there trying to shake off the electricity running through him right now." Fleece added.

As they were speaking, Nibbler stepped out of the pyramid with her Star Hanabi in her right hand. She also had another Shen Gong Wu, braced on her shoulder, much like her brother's Longhorn Taurus. It was literally a golden brace on her entire arm that had bands crossing from top to bottom. There was also a design of a round green jewel, resembling a cat's eye, covering both her entire shoulder and the middle of her wrist.

"What is that on her arm?" asked both Mina and Tina simultaneously.

"It's her Cat's Eye Draco," Hippity answered. "It works just like the other element-boosting Shen Gong Wu that her brothers have, so anything she does with fire is a lot more of a threat now to her opponent."

Aurora looked at Nibbler's current status from what Dotty was reading. "Oh man... and with her health reserves at 25% right now, Fetch will get burnt to a crisp should any fire attack hit him! And let's not forget about her Rising Sun ability, and how much stronger that makes her WITHOUT the Cat's Eye Draco."

"Aren't you forgetting something else?" Mac interjected.

"No... Aurora's just about right." replied Mystic.

"Oh!" Kuku uttered, realizing what Mac was talking about, and why Sweet was excited about this stage. "There is one other thing that makes Nibbler a threat here. Notice that the virtual sun in this environment is rising now. The sun here is a friend to users of fire and earth users; in other words, it empowers them even further."

"Are you serious?!" exclaimed Canyon. "So she can really end this in one big attack. Man, what luck!"

Dotty looked over to her husband. "You're pretty quiet right now. What's wrong? Is it the bet you might lose against Floppity?"

Spunky nodded. "No... it's more about that clock number (now "4") on Nibbler's head. Fetch did that, but I can tell that he didn't want to resort to that... let me explain."

The conversation continues...

**[O^O]**

Fetch's body was stalling whenever he tried to move. "That lightning... how? And why is it that strong?" he was wondering to himself.

"I'll let you keep figuring that out. Now that the sun is out, I can end this match. Cat's Eye Draco! Star Hanabi!" Nibbler proclaimed, raising her Star Hanabi above her head. Upon this action, numerous orbs of fire spawned all around the battlefield, surrounding Fetch in all directions. There was nowhere for him to escape.

The canine looked all around him. He was trapped. _"Looks like this is it..." _he presumed.

The number above Nibbler's head was now a "2". She looked at it for a second and wondered what would happen when the number turned to zero. Holding that thought, she proceeded in her efforts to win the match. "Hanabi Hex Zone!" she shouted, thrusting the Star Hanabi she held towards Fetch, to command all the fiery orbs to home in on her desired location.

Fetch tried to make a brief jump, but it did not matter. He still suffered an immense amount of damage, and was shot up into the air after the orbs of fire came crashing down below his feet.

Nibbler jumped into the air after him for the finishing blow. She performed a somersault on the way. "Judolette Flip, Fire!" she exclaimed, following through her approach with an axe kick to Fetch's back, sending him down to the ground. He was left immobile after landing.

_(The music concludes.)_

That was Sweet's cue to come on down and check on him. The match was over, so he went over to raise Nibbler's hand after she landed. "Fetch is unable to continue; advancing to the semifinals is Nibbler!" he announced.

The crowd cheered for the victor while the virtual setting of the Aeroseum returned to its normal, non-virtual state.

Nibbler let out a sigh of relief, powering off of her Wudai Mode. "Whew... glad that's over," she murmured as she was catching some free air to breathe. She then turned around and proceeded to leave. Before even making ten steps towards the backstage area, she looked up and noticed that the number from Fetch's Countdown spell was still on her head. As she was watching it, the number "1" it showed suddenly changed to zero. When that happened, Nibbler instantly felt a loss of consciousness from out of nowhere. Her eyes bulged while she was falling to the ground without having control over her own body.

Sweet was startled to see this. "What in the world?" he wondered, going over to check on the fallen young bunny.

Mac and Fleece warped into the arena to assist Sweet.

"It's just like Spunky said." Mac uttered.

Sweet looked up at the cardinal. "What do you mean?"

"Nibbler's unconscious now, thanks to the Time Magic spell that Fetch cast on her—Countdown. That number you saw on her was decreasing, and it was counting down to an unavoidable loss of consciousness. She couldn't stop it, and Fetch was worried about that. That's why he hesitated in the middle of the match."

Fleece put Regen spells on both Fetch and Nibbler. "You already called the match," she said to Sweet, "so Fetch won't be continuing. At the same time, due to her lack of consciousness, Nibbler can't continue either."

The orangutan sighed. "Another one of these situations, huh?" he murmured. He began to think of what to say to the audience about the outcome of the match.

Fetch got up, raising up on his back, after fifteen seconds of regeneration. "I'm sorry..." he began, through the after-effect of exhaustion from the match, "I thought I could beat her by putting pressure on her with the Countdown spell. I was just afraid of the spell being to cruel to her if she were to continue."

Fleece lightly put her hand on Fetch's shoulder. "It's all right, Fetch. You only wanted to secure the win, and it's understandable why you were concerned about how Nibbler may have reacted to your spell. Dotty said that she's only unconscious and should come back to her senses by the end of the night."

Mac turned to Sweet. "Made a decision yet?" he asked.

"Fetch, would you want to continue into the semifinals if I allowed it?" Sweet asked the young canine.

"Ehh, to be honest, I think I'll pass on that offer. For one, you did call the match already. Second, I don't think I would like my chances going up against Spurs, even **WITH** time on my side. Best of luck to Britannia."

Sweet nodded. "I understand. Mac and Fleece, could you take them both to the back, please?" he requested, now ready to make his announcement. While the two fellow Legendary 12 members followed his request, he moved to the center of the arena. "Ladies and gentlemen, as you have witnessed just now, Mac, Fleece, and I had a brief discussion about what conspired after the match. Because the match was already called down the middle, Fetch will not be able to continue. However, due to a sudden loss of consciousness from Fetch's Countdown spell earlier on, Nibbler is also unable to battle in the tournament." There are scattered commotions all through the immense audience in the Aeroseum. "As this sort of situation has happened earlier tonight, we will handle this in a similar fashion. Because both Bean Titans cannot go on, that means that the winner of the next match will automatically have a spot in the finals. Until then, the show must go on!"

The audience cheered in response to his announcement.

**[I^I]**

"So... who wins the bet?" Canyon openly asked, looking at Spunky and Floppity.

Both the cocker spaniel and lavender bunny glared at him menacingly.

"Did you really have to ask?" Mystic half-heartedly spoke, rolling her eyes.

The cougar crossed his arms. "Well excuse me for just wanting to know... maybe I will just shut up for the rest of the night."

**[O^O]**

/\/\/\/\/\/\

_MATCH 3: Britannia vs. Spurs._

After about a minute of waiting, the last match of the quarterfinals was about to begin. Britannia was studying Spurs, her opponent, trying to figure out what would be the best thing to do to at least have a better chance of defeating him. She looked at no one else but him; she needed to remain focused because he is probably the most formidable fighter in this tournament.

Spurs, on the other hand, was still trying to take all of this in—the new life, the new experiences, and most importantly, his new goal. He needed to do his best to win if it meant trying to be with Team Z and seeing his long lost cousin that he has never seen before, Durango.

"Our last two Titans fighting in the quarter-finals are here, and they look ready to fight!" Sweet announced, standing in between the young brown bear and the tawny-coated stallion. "All right. Let's see what stage Dotty has in store for us."

A couple of seconds passed before the visual environment of the Aeroseum changed once again, but into something more familiar to all the Bean Titans. The audience in attendance were now looking at a large building in the shape of the letter "B". Sweet, Spurs, and Britannia were standing on the roof of the building, which had included an empty basketball court, a helipad, and a structure where the elevator and stairwell were located.

Sweet was astonished, looking up at the press box. "Hehe, really now, Dotty?" he inquired.

The dalmatian turned on the PA System for a moment, to reply. "I need more ideas for later, ha ha... this will have to do!"

"Well folks, you're all getting a first-time look at the virtual version of our home—Titans Tower!" Sweet announced, getting a positive response from the huge crowd. "Okay then, Spurs... Britannia... let's THROW-DOWN!"

Once finished speaking, Sweet jumped on top of the elevator structure to watch the match closely, and call it down the middle once it reached an end.

"Just so you know," Britannia spoke to Spurs, "you don't have to go easy on me because I'm a girl or because I'm younger than you. However, unlike Rufus before me, I won't be so easy on you. It's only because I want to win."

Spurs looked back at the brown British bear. "I understand that, and I want to win too. I have something to fight for, so just like Rufus said, we should give it our best."

_(BGM start: "The Distance to a Duel" — Bleach.)_

"Agreed..." she replied while tossing away her quiver of arrows and powering up to the Legendary caliber of strength, triggering her Ranger Mode before the fight began. She held her bow at the ready, aiming it at the stallion. _"I just hope he doesn't dispose of me in just three moves, like he did Rufus..."_ she hoped.

Spurs powered up some too. "Ready whenever you are!" he told her.

Britannia had already moved by a Flash movement, about to fire a trio of darkness arrows at him from his right side. "I already am!" she responded, firing the arrows. One of them hit Spurs and threw his body off-balance. Upon seeing that, she followed up quickly by getting in close range of him. She delivered a roundhouse kick.

Spurs blocked it and continued to counter almost all of the following physical attacks thereafter. He exhibited the fact that he can catch on to close combat very quickly, even at high speeds. He has to concentrate a little more when it comes to ranged attacks.

After about a minute of close combat, Britannia distanced herself again by a Flash movement, and returned to shooting her elemental arrows. She stood in place and continuously fired many darkness arrows, hoping to weaken him even further quickly.

"Wow... she really isn't holding back..." Spurs murmured to himself, while sidestepping much of the volley of arrows and moving backwards at the same time. Eventually, he met the edge of the rooftop and that was when she stopped firing.

"I have you now!" Britannia proclaimed, charging a large darkness arrow and firing it at him.

_(The background music comes to a halt.)_

Spurs looked at the large arrow coming his way and simply pointed a finger towards it. "Psionic Blast," he announced, quickly generating a lot of his light elemental energy into his finger and unleashing a powerful laser against the darkness arrow, obliterating it upon contact.

Britannia gasped, before quickly jumping away from the incoming blast of light. Unfortunately, seconds after she dodged, Spurs appeared right close by her position with a Rasengan fully charged in his hand. _"Oh no!"_ she winced, putting her bow up in front of her in desperation to ward off some of the imminent onslaught of the incoming energy ball's power. She wound up being sent back flying towards the opposite end of the Titans Tower rooftop, rolling on the floor for a couple of seconds after landing. Her recurve bow was broken in the process.

**[I^I]**

"Is that it? Those are the same three moves that Spurs used on Rufus in the first round." questioned Kuku, looking at Dotty, who was monitoring each cause-and-effect action in the fight.

"Hmm..." Dotty spoke, "Britannia has been shot down to 20% of her stamina quickly, but she is still able to fight. We just have to wait and see if she can get back on her feet."

Aurora had a hand under his chin, thinking about the situation right now. "I understand that, but now that her bow is broken, she has no choice but to go to her Quincy form if she wants to beat Spurs. The question is: what can she do with that?"

Mac chuckled, enjoying watching this match unfold. "Let's see for ourselves."

**[O^O]**

Spurs looked at the bow that his Rasengan broke. "I'm sorry if that was your only bow.." he apologized, believing it to be a prized possession of Britannia's.

The young British bear managed to pull herself back onto her feet. "It's okay... I have extras back at home." She paused her speech, gathering enough spirit energy to show off her white Quincy aura. "But I don't really have to run back and get another one of those. **THIS** _(*her Quincy Mode finalizes*)_ is more than enough to hold me over."

_(BGM shift: "Clavar La Espada" — Bleach.)_

Spurs powered up to full power, knowing how much of a force she becomes in her Quincy Mode. He did not have to worry about a whole lot because his power outmatches hers easily.

Britannia, like Rufus, was shocked by his power level compared to her own. However, she remained focused on trying to find a way to beat him. She was thinking things through. _"Okay, I've only ever seen him use three moves: Flash Step, Psionic Blast, and Rasengan. And I'm sure he remembers most of what I did against Millennium. I'll have to speed things along... and if worst comes to worst, I'll use THAT technique. It would be the first time I use it out of solo practice, so if it comes to that, I might just win this match." _Once she was done thinking, she charged a decent amount of spirit energy into her arm and put it to her Quincy Cross, which was acting as her new bow.

The stallion charged another Rasengan while Britannia was about to fire her arrows of spirit energy.

"Hah!" the young bear exclaimed, rapidly firing about 50 arrows at him.

Spurs suddenly stopped generating his Rasengan and then raised a hand to the sky. "Luminous Illusion!" Upon this command, a towering pillar of bright light rose from beneath him, and numerous identical pillars appeared all around his position, spanning most of the entire rooftop. Due to this technique, Spurs eluded the spirit arrows when it was revealed that he was not in the light pillar that shrouded him.

**[I^I]**

The members of Team Z were surprised that Spurs knew the Illusion technique. Dep had his jaw dropped; Fortress closed it for him.

"Geez.. it's like he's one of us already." Thunderbolt stated.

Mina gave Tina a skeptical look. "I know it hasn't been long since he's been here, but did you teach him any of those moves? You are his cousin after all..."

"He did ask me to show him a few things for about a couple of hours in the Danger Room," Tina explained, "but he was having a bit of trouble getting them executed properly. The moves looked weaker when I first told him about them, but once I told him about energy control, he started to improve a little bit. But now, the techniques... especially this Illusion of his, it's even better than ours! It's crazy!"

"There may be some reasoning for that," Gigi began to say, finally speaking up after a good while of silently watching the matches. "More than likely, it's due to the fact that Rufus showed him how to use his power level at its high potential. When you're powered up, using energy becomes an easier thing to do. I have to give him some credit though; Spurs learned it quickly. And since he has a lot of power at his disposal, every thing he does seems to show out greatly."

"Really? Well, Britannia may not last if she slips up." Dep claimed.

The black poodle nodded in disapproval. "That won't happen."

"Huh?!" exclaimed the five Team Z members in the press box, looking at Gigi.

"Britannia is very similar to Jake, in that she doesn't let her focus waver when fighting against someone. And as an archer, she knows how to position herself around the battlefield and plan her actions from afar. Even though Spurs may be the most formidable opponent she could fight here, you can bet that she has something planned just in case things don't go her way... so really and honestly, this match could go either way."

**[O^O]**

_(BGM shift: "Quincy's Craft" — Bleach.)_

Britannia was looking around at the many towering pillars of light cautiously, knowing that Spurs could pop out of any of them at any point. Because the field was covered in towering pillars of light, she needed to level the playing field again. She took out one of her Seele Schneiders and quickly amassed spirit energy in them to create its "blade". "Hah!" she shouted, as she swung her weapon at the light pillar to her left, causing it to disappear and reveal that Spurs was not there. _"One down..."_ she thought to herself, while sticking the Seele Schneider in the ground where the light pillar was.

This same process was repeated on the nearest pillar of light to Britannia's right, and the second of her five Seele Schneiders was placed there afterwards.

_"Just what is she doing?"_ Spurs wondered, still inside one of the pillars that his opponent had not attacked yet.

Britannia then pulled out her third Seele Schneider, but this time, she was going to fire it from her Quincy Cross. She shot it in a forward direction, making it fly through about four of the light columns and landing fifty feet away from her, piercing the ground where it landed.

Spurs was then seen jumping between the light pillars, trying to confuse his opponent. He was veering towards the right side of the Titans Tower rooftop, making Britannia assume that he was coming around to hit her.

"Oh no you don't!" she uttered, jumping towards her left and shooting her fourth Seele Schneider at where he was expected to be, in mid-dash. It came very close to hitting Spurs, until he used Flash Step to hide again. The reishi-bladed projectile lodged itself into the ground like the previous one did after it was fired.

Sweet was looking all around the rooftop at the current scene until Mac warped in beside him. "What's up?" he asked the cardinal.

"I have a GOOD feeling that you don't want to be here at this moment..."

Sweet nodded, touching Mac's wing. "I'll trust your judgement."

They both warped to the press box.

Meanwhile, Britannia performed a Flash Step to put herself high above Titans Tower. She was gathering a massive amount of spirit energy into her arm for a large-scale ranged attack using her Quincy Cross.

"Why try to find you in one tower when I can fire at all of them? LICHT REGEN!" Britannia exclaimed, before suddenly unleashing a huge, powerful rain of reishi arrows upon the rooftop. She fired thousands of them, all attacking every pillar of light from Spurs's elemental Illusion technique. She hoped to not only find him, but to deal a considerable amount of damage at the same time. Once the onslaught was finished, there were no more light towers, and no Spurs in sight.

_"Where is he?!"_ Britannia wondered, displeased with the outcome of her attack.

"You do know that I don't have to be on the ground for my Illusion, right?" uttered Spurs.

The young bear winced, hearing his voice from above her position. She looked up to find the tawny-coated stallion, to see that he was flying at her with another Rasengan in his left hand. Trying not to be hit by the ball again, she descended down to the Tower's roof and fired spirit arrows at the Rasengan, trying to wear down the energy it took to make the ball.

Spurs was getting closer to her as they were getting closer to the roof, but his Rasengan's power was diminishing with every arrow hitting it. He noticed this and backed off just before they both landed on the roof. He distanced himself from her, while she stopped firing her arrows and called off her Quincy Cross to hold her fifth and final Seele Schneider, aimed at him where he stood. She was panting.

"For a lass as young as yourself, you're putting up a good fight!" Spurs complimented his opponent.

"Thanks," responded Britannia. "I honestly thought you would have beaten me five minutes ago, but now I understand it's wrong to assume things if you have a chance at winning."

"I get what you're saying."

She gave a serious glare. "That's why I plan on winning this, right here and now."

Spurs pointed at her as well, charging up light energy for another Psionic Blast. "Not if I can help it!" he proclaimed, waiting on her to make her move first. He expected her to bring back the Quincy Cross and fire the Seele Schneider she held. Unfortunately for him, that was not the case.

Instead, Britannia plunged the spirit-energy filled object into the ground beneath her, like the other four already were. Upon doing this, an unusual event occurred. The five Seele Schneiders were positioned like the points of a star, surrounding Spurs. At this moment, they each produced a binding lines of spirit energy on the ground, both meeting in a pentagon outline with each other and a pentagon around where Spurs was standing, exhibiting binding spirit energy within the pentagon as well, which made Spurs unable to move from his location. This was the last resort technique that Britannia had in mind earlier on in the match, and it had the audience in awe.

"What in the world is this?!" Spurs cried, confirming the fact that he was trapped. Despite this, his will to win was still very high, and because of this, a spark of light began to mysteriously flicker faintly on his chest, growing brighter as time went by.

"The reason why I've won this match. You say you can help it, but I'm here to tell you otherwise..." Britannia began to explain, pulling out a small silver vial containing a very light blue liquid. "There's nowhere you can go right now, and you're about to experience a world of hurt from this super attack, called **Sprenger**. This vial I'm holding has a liquid in it that has a good fraction of my total power in it, and it is very fond of my Seele Schneiders... giving them a hefty increase in power themselves, in whatever they do. When I spill this liquid on this one I just stuck in the ground, every particle of spirit energy you see around you will go ballistic and eventually explode on you. There's nothing you can do about it; in other words, it's over, Spurs."

_"No! I won't lose! I can't lose!"_ Spurs told himself, trying to will his way through it, even though his attempts may be futile.

Britannia tilted over the vial, pouring the very liquid she was talking about on the Seele Schneider she was standing over. Upon doing so, the flow of spirit energy ("lines", pentagons, etc.) gradually amplified in appearance and strength. The energy being was being drawn in by the spiritual pentagon underneath Spurs, causing it to swallow Spurs in a furious explosion, which soon expanded in size to fill the inside of the whole pentagon created by the Seele Schneiders. Spurs let out sounds of pain and agony while being hit with Sprenger, and it was to this that Britannia decided to turn around and close her eyes while adjusting her glasses, just before the explosion burst out in a rage.

_(The music stops.)_

After the outburst, Mac warped Sweet back into the virtual scene so he could verify the status of the match. Sweet saw the charred body of Spurs then looked over to Britannia. _"She actually did it..."_ he thought, believing that she had overcome the odds against probably the toughest opponent in the tournament.

**[I^I]**

"I can't believe she actually pulled it off...!" Mystic murmured, thinking that no one would be able to defeat Spurs because of the power level he had in direct comparison to essentially everyone else.

"Of course she did!" Canyon spoke out. "I don't think there is anything else she could've done to leave him down for the count!"

Mac shrugged. "I'd hate to say this, but Canyon just might be right..."

"HA! Plus one for me, finally!" the cougar boasted at Mac.

Dotty checked the status boards, upon Sweet's request over an earpiece. Before finishing her review, her eyes widened. _"You've got to be kidding me..."_ she thought upon seeing a change.

"What is it?" asked Fleece, who had a bet on Britannia to win the match against her husband's bet on Spurs.

**[O^O]**

Sweet proceeded to move over to Britannia, calling in a Watcher camera to mic him up for the announcement of the winner. When the Watcher flew next to him, it decided to turn away and focus towards the direction where Spurs was.

"What is it?" Sweet wondered when he saw the camera turn. He then gazed upon what caught the camera's attention. _"Amazing..."_ he thought.

Britannia had already put away her Quincy Cross, certain that she had beaten her opponent. She became distraught, however, when Sweet did not come to raise her hand yet. "What's going on?" she murmured, before turning around to see something she did not want to see.

_(BGM shift: "Showing Off" — Bleach.)_

Spurs stood on his feet, despite having a charred body from the bright blue explosion. He has taking slow, steady breaths, trying to fight off the after-effects of the heavy damage he took. The flicker of light that was previously on his chest now glowed brightly as a white aura, lining his entire body.

Britannia quickly reformed her Quincy Cross. _"I CANNOT believe he survived that!"_ she said to herself, dismayed. Sprenger was her ace in the hole, and it failed. She picked up the Seele Schneider nearest her and prepared to fire.

"Can you continue, Spurs?" Sweet asked.

The stallion was looking towards Britannia, but his head was slightly down. "I came here to win, didn't I, sir? I have to!"

Sweet could feel the determination from Spurs that Mac had already revered about earlier. His will to win was astonishing. "Well alright then. Then if you're ready, be advised—your opponent is aiming right at you."

Britannia fired the Seele Schneider as soon as Sweet stepped away from Spurs, who was not moving from where he was as the projectile was swiftly flying at him. She expected it to pierce into him and shut off his reserves, much like what she did to win against Millennium in the last round.

Spurs rose his head to look directly at his opponent, a second before the projectile was within inches of his body. Without any sudden movement after that, the Seele Schneider bounced right off of Spurs, not doing anything to him whatsoever.

"There's just no way!" Britannia exclaimed, in complete disbelief that her Seele Schneiders were now rendered useless.

**[I^I]**

"Okay, just what is going on with Spurs?!" Mina wanted to know, while her Oracle Twin (Tina) was silent, yet shocked at Spurs's performance.

"More like: what was up with that Seele Schneider?" Dep interjected. "Was it a dud after she used that big move?"

"No, I doubt that." replied Kuku. "From what I understand, the Seele Schneiders are able to almost effortlessly cut away at spirit energy bonds and are capable of shutting someone's inner energy reserves down if it pierces through them, like you saw with Millennium earlier. But the reasoning as to why it had no effect on Spurs just now is beyond me..."

Dotty turned in her seat. "Well I can answer that," she began to explain. "The Master Libra program that I have up and running here tells you about what you may or may not know about someone's power level, moves, and techniques, very much without fail. With it, I got recorded a few more things about Spurs from this fight alone. Master Libra pointed out the special ability that Spurs has, calling it **Radiant Heart**. He uses it in two ways. The first is how you see it right now; it is that thin, glowing white aura you see around his body. It is a strong light bound on him, like a barrier, and it shows why his special defense stat has that exceedingly large second limit. It acts as his safeguard when his health gets fairly low, and reduces a good deal of damage from any attack that isn't physical."

Gigi nodded. "So it is like a _**hierro**_, or Armament Haki."

"Yes, exactly. Now the other way he uses it is great for him, and bad for any one else. That aura of his also absorbs some of the damage it is blocking. He can use that energy and boost his strength, special attacks, and/or speed. The amount it's boosted by is dependent upon the situation at hand. In other words..."

"Britannia won't win this." Fleece summarized. "Oh well, Sweet and I didn't really care about the betting situation in the first place, even though he's taking this one to the finals. We just wanted it so that all the Legendary 12 were participating."

Mac nodded. "I will admit though, Fleece—Britannia put up a great fight. I was surprised."

"I am too," replied the lamb. "Best of luck to the Titans your bets are on, Dotty and Fancy."

The dalmatian and the white cat nodded.

**[O^O]**

Spurs mustered as much of his power as he could. "Morning Star," he announced before performing a sudden Flash Step.

The young British bear still had her sights on where Spurs was before he disappeared. She then was startled when a bright light appeared above her. Spurs was found in midair, with a fully-charged orb of light that was the size of a large beach ball. He thrust the orb down at her.

Luckily, she avoided the head of the attack, but the orb exploded powerfully when it hit the Titans Tower rooftop, causing her body to fly uncontrollably to the other side of the fighting space. After landing, she still had just enough energy to stand again.

Spurs was now high in the air now, assuming a stance where his hands were together and brought in to the right side of his body; it was a stance that Sweet was familiar with.

_"Don't tell me he's gonna use something like the Kamehameha Wave, now...!"_ he thought, as he watched the stallion generate a lot of light energy into a large sphere.

Mac suddenly came down again to escort Sweet back to the press box by teleportation again. "Mystic said this is going to get messy, and I believe her..." he said.

The orangutan nodded in response to the cardinal's words, before returning his attention to the action.

Britannia saw what her opponent was doing and had to act quickly. She quickly Flash Stepped to the center of the rooftop, and then gathered a lot of spirit energy for her Licht Regen technique again. "I might be all beaten up, but I still have all the spirit energy I can use! And even you know you can't avoid this attack again, Spurs! LICHT REGEN!" She yelled out in a war cry, as she began to fire her onslaught of spirit arrows.

_(The music concludes.)_

Spurs remained unchanged in composure when her attack was coming his way. "Holy Burst!" he announced, before lunging his large light orb in front of his body, pointing it towards Britannia. On this action, a countless barrage of white beams of light stormed out from the orb in arcs, raining down on the entire rooftop. The spirit arrows were easily outmatched by the beams, some of which would then attack Britannia on all sides. Trying to dodge this attack seemed fruitless.

Once this clash was over with, Mac brought Sweet back to the field. Sweet then gave Dotty the signal to turn the battlefield back into the Aeroseum's original appearance. Britannia was revealed to be out of commission, out of her Quincy Mode as well. Spurs landed on the arena floor, but had to kneel due to a bit of exhaustion.

The stallion then felt his arm being grabbed and then raised by Sweet, putting a grin on his face.

"Britannia is unable to continue! Advancing to the finals, is Spurs!" Sweet announced.

The crowd in the Aeroseum roared, cheering and applauding to what was considered a great match. Spurs and Britannia were then escorted backstage, to be tended to for the upcoming events of the night. For Britannia, it meant she had to rest her body and stay back and watch the last two matches. For Spurs, it meant that he had an even tougher challenge ahead of him before he could claim his right as winner of the second UNLIMITED Tournament—taking on either the perplexing Angel of Heart, Princess; or his good friend, L'Amore.

**/-/**

**We find out who he faces, in the next chapter. Stay tuned!**


End file.
